BackUp Copy
by Earth Star
Summary: Zelgadis searches one of Rezo's labs and makes an unimaginable discovery.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own this series or any of these characters and I don't wish to make any profits from this story.

**Back-Up Copy**

It was a puzzle. Zelgadis was certain of it. There had to be more to the cabin than what he was seeing. He had spent months looking for this secret lab of Rezo's. The chimera had thought he had managed to locate all of Rezo's laboratories and hideaways. He had a map marked with all of the locations. Then, out of all places, he had gone to a tavern and it was a barkeep that told him over a drink. It had started off as a simple conversation. Zelgadis said that he was searching for any hidden temples or ruins near the Kataart mountains. The bartender replied that if he wanted something interesting to explore, he should go to the old cabin in the woods. Zelgadis had assumed he was joking, until the bartender said that it supposedly once belonged to Rezo the Red Priest.

Zelgadis choked on his wine. The bartender grinned smugly, no doubt amused that he was able to take the shaman by surprise. "That's right. The famous priest himself would sometimes visit there."

"Why?" Zelgadis asked, trying to not reveal his growing eagerness.

The bartender shrugged. "No idea. No one in the village thought it was right to ask him. However, it's been years since anyone has seen him there."

Zelgadis ran his finger around the rim of his glass. "Has anyone been there since?"

The bartender dried a freshly clean mug. "You kidding? What kind of person would invade a holy man's home? Sure some people have been curious, but everyone is worried about getting cursed."

"And you're telling me because?"

The bartender put the mug on the counter and leaned forward on his arms. "You don't seem to be the kind to be afraid of curses."

Zelgadis couldn't argue against the man's claim. Once he was given directions, it only took a morning's walk to locate the cabin. To his disappointment, the inside was as ordinary as the outside. There was a plain bed, a dusty bookshelf, a table and a single chair. Zelgadis wondered if the bartender had played a prank on him, but his gut told him that things weren't what they appeared to be.

There were the books in the bookcase. Rezo has always used magic to help him to read, and he would always carve his name into the spine of the book. The thinly carved "Rezo" at the end of each book spine was all the proof Zelgadis needed.

Yet, that was the only evidence. It made no sense. From what the bartender told him, Rezo had sometimes spent a whole month in this cabin. Why? There was nothing here. Zelgadis tapped the walls looking for any hint of a secret safe, but found none.

Then he noticed the rug on the floor. He knelt and brushed his fingers against the small pink tassels. Then he swiftly yanked it away, smiling in triumph as a door appeared. There was the latch. The cabin was just a way to hide whatever experiments Rezo was concealing beneath it.

His body trembled with excitement. It was a slim chance, but the clue to his cure could be below this dingy cabin floor. Zelgadis lifted the latch. The door was stiff, and it creaked loudly as he pulled it upward. A stairwell descended into the darkness below.

Zelgadis cast a lighting spell and began to descend. The stairway was narrow, but Zelgadis was relieved to see the cellar was twice the size of the cabin upstairs. It was pitch black other than the small ball of light generated by his lighting spell. As he stepped off the stairs, a torch came into view.

Zelgadis cast a small flare arrow and lit the torch. The light spell dissolved as Zelgadis picked up the torch. He ran his hand against the wall and located the other torches. It was not long before he was able to light up the room.

He gazed about the cellar. This looked more disorganized when compared to Rezo's other dwellings. Notes and books were scattered on the tables. Vials, tubes and bottles with unknown liquids sat on a nearby shelf.

Going into scholar mode, Zelgadis glanced over the notes and books on a table. He found a small leather bound book and opened it. He recognized Rezo's handwriting instantly. Many people would have been shocked to learn that Rezo had learned to write as well as read. Zelgadis had recalled asking him how he did it as a child.

Rezo had explained that he had used a version of the scrying spell, but had connected it to his mind. At least that was the brief explanation of it, Rezo had made it clear it was a complicated spell and would take hours to explain it in detail.

He glanced over the journal as he flipped through the pages.

_The subject is developing normally. It should reach adulthood within a month. However, in regards to that, I'll have to inject the serum to ensure it remains a blank slate._

Zelgadis read the pages quickly and hopefully, seeking more description as to what exactly the subject Rezo was studying was. He began to pace as he read the pages. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another chamber extending from the far wall.

He carried the small journal in his hands as he walked towards it, stopping to light another torch as he entered the small chamber.

The journal fell from his hands. He also nearly dropped the torch, but his quick reflexes saved him. As he stared into the chamber, his brain began to create rational and logical reasons for the sight before him. He was seeing an illusion, some kind of cheap trick. This was all nothing more than a dream. The fish he ate for lunch was bad and thus he was seeing things.

He stared at the object before him and slammed down the excuses he had try to think of. No, what he was seeing was indeed real. Zelgadis paced warily towards the incubation tube. He placed his hand against the glass over the creature's chest, eyes locked on the subject's face.

The being was male, his hair a light lavender blue. His eyes were shut, making it seem that the he was merely sleeping. His body was firm, but not very muscular compared to someone like Gourry.

Zelgadis admitted to himself he never imagined Rezo to do this. Rezo had done a lot of crazy things. He had seen the man create chimeras, himself included. Rezo had created an illness and infect an entire country with it just for an experiment. He had forced low-ranking Mazoku to become his servants.

He cursed under his breath. Making a full copy of Zelgadis's human self. That was a new one to add to the list.


	2. Chapter 1

**One Month later…**

Amelia hummed to herself as she tipped the driver. The drive from Seyrune had been long, and she was thankful that the man had been willing to drive so far. She preferred to travel by foot, or even horseback. The urgency of the letter, though, made her decide she needed to come as soon as possible. Plus, she couldn't help but spoil herself with a more comfortable method of travel every once in a while.

The driver tipped his hat, and with a sharp tug at the reins, the carriage rode off. Amelia pulled the letter out of her pocket to re-read it. Usually, Zelgadis tried to send a letter to her once a month. She insisted on this the last time he visited Seyrune. If she happened to stumble upon some information that could be useful to him, she had to know where he was to get it to him.

Granted, that was just an excuse. She mainly just wanted proof that he was still alive and not dead in a ditch somewhere. The chimera was far more than able to take care of himself, but there was no telling what kind of trouble he would have to face in his ongoing quest to restore his body to normal.

True to his word, Zelgadis managed to write once a month, which was why she was surprised to receive another letter barely two weeks later. Unlike the previous letters, this one was short. He did not go into detail, but Zelgadis asked if she would come to the small town he had stumbled upon because he needed her help. He even drew a detailed map of where the town was located. He added that he was not in any physical danger and the sooner she came, the better.

Amelia dashed off a reply, and once she explained the situation to her father, he had no problem letting her go to aid Zelgadis. "Friends are more important than paperwork," he said with a smile. Thus, she was on the road only two days later, and within a week and a half, she had reached the town.

Amelia surveyed the area. It was your typical small country town. There were no branches of the Sorcerer's Guild here and it was miles from any known ruins or temples. She had wondered what was here that caused Zelgadis to ask for her help. The letter had said that he would be staying at the local inn. If he was not there when she came, Zelgadis wrote, she was to get herself a room and he should arrive before nightfall.

It was midmorning, but for being a country town it was very active. Amelia's nose twitched as she passed the bakery. Her mouth watered from the smell of fresh bread. She paused and eyed the pastries taunting her from the store window. _I didn't have breakfast yet,_ her inner voice of hunger argued. _As a warrior of justice, I should get something to fill my stomach._

Just as she reached for her money purse, someone yelled. "YOU CALL THIS A REWARD?"

Amelia jumped. It wasn't so much the shout itself, but the familiarity of the voice. "It couldn't be," Amelia muttered.

It wasn't hard to track the source of the voice. She only had to walk down the block to find her culprit. There she found the sheriff's office. Any normal person would have been astounded, or even unnerved by the sight of the moaning and groaning bandits who were tied up, and appeared thrilled to be alive. A normal person might also have been baffled by the short, red-haired women screaming at the sheriff as the blond mercenary next to her looked ready to take a nap. Not Amelia. She was far too used to the antics of Lina Inverse.

Amelia felt sorry for the town sheriff as he rubbed his eyes. He looked like he was dealing with a migraine. "Look Missy, we're a small town. We don't have much money! What do you expect?"

Lina glared and stomped her foot. "The poster said one-thousand gold as a reward for these bandits!"

"That would be in a bigger city, which we're not!" The sheriff seemed ready to slam the door in her face. "It's either the money I am able to give you or you can take them to the next city, which I happen to know is a five-day walk from here."

Lina growled.

"We'll take it," Gourry spoke up.

"Gourry!"

The swordsman shrugged. "Lina, it's not his fault they don't have the money. Besides, do you want to have to feed these guys just to take them to the next city?"

Lina grumbled. "Fine, I'll take it-"

"Miss Lina! Mister Gourry!"

The pair turned around. "Amelia?" Lina exclaimed. She rushed over and let Gourry finish collecting the money. The girls gave each other a quick hug.

"I never thought I would run into you two here," Amelia replied, letting go of her friend.

Lina smirked. "I'm not." She folded her arms and gave a sly smile. "Let me guess, Zelgadis asked you to come, right?"

Amelia tilted her head. "How did you know?"

Lina pulled a letter from her cape. "Cause he sent us a letter, too. We just got here."

"Me too," Amelia replied, as she watched the sheriff dragged the load of bandits inside. "But what about those men?"

"We ran into them," Gourry replied, as he gave the pouch of money to Lina. "Lina blew up their camp and took their money."

"Then you brought them here?" Amelia answered.

Gourry shook his head. "No, just before we reached town, Lina saw the wanted poster saying there was a reward for them." Gourry looked to Lina, while he was twitching slightly. "So, Lina had us go back to the bandit camp so we could arrest them and drag them here."

"Hey, we got extra money this way," Lina snapped as she finished counting the coins. "Besides, those idiots needed to pay the consequences for being stupid and not leaving their camp after we trashed it."

"That's easy for you to say. You didn't have to watch them all night to make sure they didn't escape."

"Um, why don't we go to the inn and get something to eat?" said Amelia hastily, hoping to prevent an argument.

"Sure." Lina patted her stomach. "We haven't eaten anything since last night. So, I'm starving."

"Which probably means she'll be eating the inn out of house and home."

"Quiet, Gourry!"

"So, Zel didn't tell you why he wanted us to come?" Lina asked, slurping her soup.

Amelia shook her head. "He only gave me a map and asked that I come as quickly as possible."

"Same with us. He must have found a possible way to cure himself."

"You really think so Lina?" Gourry swallowed his bread roll. "Maybe he just got himself into trouble."

"If that was the case, Zel would have said so in his letter. Besides, if Zel was in trouble he wouldn't be asking for help unless it was something he couldn't handle by himself."

Amelia nodded. "Still, what could Mister Zelgadis have found here?"

"You're not going to believe it when I tell you."

All heads turned. "Speak of the devil!" Lina cried with a wave. "How have you been, Zel?"

Zelgadis pulled down his hood and took a seat. "Quite well. In fact, I'm willing to pay for your meal."

Lina grinned slyly. "You're feeling generous today."

"As long as the bill is within reason," Zelgadis added. "There are limits."

Amelia sipped her tea. His discovery must be important if it put him in this much of a good mood. It was the first time she had ever seen the shaman offer to pay not only her food bill, but Lina and Gourry's as well.

Lina poured herself another glass of water. "Not that I'm not thrilled with you paying, but why did you ask us to come here?"

Zelgadis ordered a cup of tea from the waiter. "I can't describe it in words, not yet. I'll have to show you what I found. Then I think you'll understand."

Zelgadis drank his tea contently as his three friends exchanged puzzled glances.

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It did not take long for the group to finish their meal and leave the inn, following Zelgadis. No one else asked the chimera questions as they walked through the woods. It was a long walk, and the heat was not helping matters.

By the time they reached the small cabin, they were all dripping with sweat. Which was why, as they entered the small cabin, Lina was feeling annoyed. "This is why you brought us here? Zel, I think you're starting to lose it."

Zelgadis smirked. "I suppose you won't believe me when I tell you that Rezo owned this place."

Lina's annoyance disappeared instantly. "Rezo? Hold it, this is a joke, right?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "I thought at first too, but I'm certain Rezo did once come here." He pointed to the small bookshelf. "Those books were Rezo's. I recognize those initials anywhere."

Amelia went over and brushed her fingers over the book spines. "But what was Rezo doing here, Mister Zelgadis?"

"Research." Zelgadis knelt and lifted the trap door. "And the reason I called you all here is downstairs."

"Is that a lab?" Lina asked. "This isn't like his other lab is it? I would rather not crawl through another labyrinth."

"Don't worry," Zelgadis reassured her as he began to descend the stairs, the others following . "This lab isn't nearly as elaborate as the one in Sairaag."

Amelia ran her hand against the wall as she let her eyes adjust. The cold and dampness helped ease the hot sweat. The smell of mildew and mold, however, was not so inviting. "What kind of research was Rezo doing here?"

"You'll see," Zelgadis replied, as he took hold of a torch hanging off a wall.

"You know, Zel, this mysterious secret act is sounding more like Xellos with each passing minute," Lina mumbled.

Zelgadis shuddered. "Thanks for killing the mood, Lina."

"Consider it payback for the hike to get here."

The chimera stood in the threshold of the corridor. "You won't be complaining once you see this." He held out his arm like a showman.

Lina had a list of remarks and comments to respond with. They instantly burned to ash as she entered the corridor. Her jaw dropped. Amelia gasped. Gourry only blinked.

Lina briefly wondered if this was some kind of magician's stage trick. She pinched herself. Nope, she was seeing two of Zelgadis. One stood smugly with his arms crossed. The second was a completely human version that was floating unconscious in an incubation tube. The world had enough with one cranky chimera, now there were two? "Zel, what is this?"

"It's a copy." Zelgadis leaned his back against the glass tube. For some reason, it made her skin crawl. She could never feel that relaxed if she discovered a sleeping copy of herself. Then again, Zelgadis had been living in this place for over a month. Therefore, he probably overcame the creep factor of it.

"Rezo created it some years ago," he explained.

Gourry coughed and raised his hands. "Uh, Zel?"

"B-but why?" Amelia stammered, still not believing what she was seeing.

"He wanted a backup. It's all in his notebook."

"Zel."

"I was one of his more valuable berserkers working for him, and it would be a great loss of manpower if I were to die."

"Zel." Gourry coughed louder.

Zelgadis attempted to ignore it. "So, he created this copy of me that would be activated in the event I die-"

"ZEL!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake! What, Gourry?"

Gourry rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, I do want to hear the explanation for this, but I have to ask: Are you okay with this?"

Zelgadis frowned. He wasn't expecting that type of question, at least not at this moment. "I was shocked, even furious that Rezo had the nerve to copy me. I've been-"

"That's not what I am talking about."

"Then what Mister Gourry?" Amelia replied. She was feeling very confused about the situation too, but Gourry could be more polite and wait for Zelgadis to finish before asking questions.

Gourry sweated. "Zel, that thing in there is a copy of you."

"Yes, that's what I said."

"A NAKED copy of you."

Zelgadis sighed. "Yes, so?"

"And you're alright with the girls seeing you in all of your naked glory?"

A long stiff silence entered the chamber. Zelgadis looked to his copy and paled. A series of screams were soon to follow.

Amelia covered her face with her hands as she fought her blush. "Mister Zelgadis, why didn't you give him some clothes?"

"I-it never occurred to me!" Zelgadis stood in front of his copy and held out his cape to block their view. He'd hoped it would preserve some of his dignity.

"It never occurred to you that we would be seeing you naked?" Lina yelled, whirling around. Her face was as red as a tomato.

"It didn't bother you until Gourry brought it up!"

"Shut up!"

Gourry sighed, feeling sad he was the only calm person in the group. He grabbed a blanket he had spotted hanging over a chair in the corner and spread it out. Seeing what he was doing, Zelgadis took hold of the other end. Together, the men tied the blanket around the tube. When they were done, the tube was wearing an ugly, muddy-brown blanket as a skirt. It was not attractive, but it fulfilled its job of concealing the copy's private parts.

When it was deemed safe, the girls opened their eyes and their shoulders dropped. "Well, now that we got that out of the way," Lina replied, walking up to the tube, "let's get back to the topic at hand." She pressed her hand against the glass. "How long has it been here?"

"A few years," Zelgadis replied, taking a seat to get rest he desperately needed. "According to the journal's dates, this was made a month before I had met you and Gourry."

"But I don't get it." replied Gourry. "Why would Rezo make a human copy of you?" He tilted his head at the chimera. "You're stronger as a chimera, so wouldn't you be more useful to him as a chimera?"

"It's probably because chimeras are hard to copy," Amelia replied as she studied the copy. It was incredible. For years, she had been curious to know what Zelgadis had looked like as a human, and here was her wish in flesh and blood. It was surreal to have two versions of her dear friend in the same room.

Lina nodded. "Chimeras are made by taking different parts from different creatures. Since they're artificially made and not born naturally, copying them is difficult. Rezo probably figured it would be easier to take a human copy of Zel and just add the same parts he used before to make a new chimera Zel."

Gourry chewed his lip. "I still don't get it."

"Think of it like an apple pie." Lina pretended she was stirring an invisible bowl. "You can grow apples, get water, and all the ingredients you need to make it. You mix them together, and voila!" She clapped her hands. "You have an apple pie. If you wanted another apple pie, you couldn't grow a whole apple pie. You would have to get the ingredients again in order to make another pie."

"That makes sense, I guess." Gourry wiped the drool off his chin. "And now I'm craving a slice of apple pie." He stroked his chin. "But, Lina, that doesn't apply to everything. How do you explain babies then?"

Lina blinked. "Huh?"

"Well, you don't mix ingredients to make a baby, you-"

"WE'RE NOT GETTING INTO THAT!"

"But I'm just saying-"

The princess cleared her throat, in an attempt to get back to the topic at hand. "Mister Zelgadis, what do you plan on doing with this copy?" All eyes turned to Amelia. "You said you needed our help, but with what?"

Zelgadis leaned his elbows on his knees. He folded his hands together and smirked. "It's a crazy idea, but if it works, I can once again be fully human. I need your help in finding a Hellmaster jar."

Lina folded her arms. "I think I see where you're going with this." She pointed her finger at him. "You want to use a Hellmaster jar so you can switch and put your soul inside the human copy."

"Exactly." Zelgadis straightened and folded one leg over the over. "I had thought of making one, but I've never seen any notes or designs in any of Rezo's labs explaining how he created it. So, my best bet is to find a spare."

"But what makes you think there's another jar?" said Gourry. "I thought there was just one."

Lina shook her head. "Remember Nama? She had found a second jar. Plus, there were the jars used for Duclis and Pokota. So, we know Rezo made at least four jars. Considering how many experiments he was constantly doing, it is possible that another jar exists somewhere."

Zelgadis nodded. "I've searched Rezo's smaller labs thoroughly, so I'm certain there's no jar in any of them. That leaves his larger underground lab in Sairaag, or possibly a hidden one we don't know about."

"I thought the one in Sairaag was destroyed," replied Lina.

Amelia shook her head. "Seyrune received reports from soldiers we sent to assist with cleaning up and rebuilding the city. Most of the lab was destroyed, but some parts are still intact." She glanced back to the chimera. "I told them to leave the lab alone and barricade it, in case Mister Zelgadis needed to go back there."

"I went and haven't found anything worthwhile, but now I want to go back. There might be a clue as to where another jar might be kept."

Lina tapped her chin. "It's a good place to start."

"So, are you in, Lina?"

"Sure, Gourry and I still haven't found a sword for him, but we're not doing anything else at the moment." She winked. "Besides, I want to be there for the crowning moment when you finally get your cure."

Zelgadis smirked back. "I already gathered supplies so-"

"But is this right?" Amelia chewed her bottom lip. She didn't want to ruin Zelgadis's dream, but someone had to point out the one flaw in his plan. "Is it right to force the copy to be switched into a body that's not his? It's not his fault he was born like this." She threw a fist in the air. "He was also a pawn in Rezo's evil plans."

Zelgadis chuckled, which surprised the princess. "I had a feeling you would say that." He stood next to the incubation tube. "You have nothing to worry about Amelia, because this copy has no mind." He tapped the cold glass. "While making the copy, Rezo had thought he would ensure that this version would be more loyal than me. He injected a serum that would stop this copy creating it's own free will and mind. Ozel had more freewill than this thing."

"So, it's like a golem?" Lina answered.

"That's right," said Zelgadis as he moved toward Amelia. "This thing is a soulless body, a genuine living puppet." He place his hand on Amelia's shoulder. "So, there's nothing for my soul to be switched with."

Amelia nodded. That put part of her mind at ease. The rest of her mind was building an urge to make a speech on how wrong Rezo was to create a copy just to obey him. How could someone think it was right to control a living being's life like that? She remembered that her sister would create and control golems, but those were different. Rezo had created living, breathing life, only for it to have no life of his own. It just wasn't fair.

"This body might as well be put to good use," Zelgadis replied. "Besides, it seems fitting that Rezo, who cursed me with this chimera body, would be the one to give me my new body."

Amelia nodded. It still was hard to wrap her mind around this plan, but they had to do this. Zelgadis would finally be human again. Yet, using the Hellmaster jars made her queasy. In the wrong hands, they could be used to ruin people's lives forever. The memory of what had happened to Pocota and Duclis still lingered. She just prayed nothing bad would happen with Zelgadis using it.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The wagon ride was bumpy. Lina bounced and landed hard on her butt as the driver drove over another rock. She grumbled as she gripped onto the side of the wagon, a small effort to steady herself against the next bump.

"Why can't the farmer take the main road?"

"Because this is the way to the market," Zelgadis stated, refusing to take his eyes off his map. "We're lucky enough that he was passing by Sairaag and offered us a ride."

Gourry nodded as he stretched out in the hay. "And it's comfy, too."

"Only you would think that hay is comfy," Lina growled.

Amelia tuned out Lina's complaints as she watched the world go by. There was a soft cool breeze and she enjoyed letting it play with her hair. They had been traveling for a week since they had left the lab and headed for Sairaag. Before they had headed off, Amelia had made sure to hide the royal crest. She was not letting Lina abuse it a second time. She learned the hard way from the last time Lina had 'borrowed' it. The thought had occurred to her to hire a carriage to Sairaag, except she would not be traveling by the royal carriage but via third party, which was more expensive. Amelia refused to send a huge bill back to the royal council, but if Lina had caught wind of the thought, she would try to snag the crest to hire a carriage for heaven knows how long. Just imagining the final bill caused Amelia to moan. No, she was keeping that thought to herself.

"So, how long till we get there, Mister Zelgadis?"

The chimera traced his finger over the marked trails on the map. "We should be there by early afternoon." He rolled up the map. "Once we find a place to camp, we should be able to explore some of the laboratory."

"There aren't any inns there?" Gourry asked.

Lina shook her head. "Seeing how the city got blown up twice, there are nasty rumors going around about the place. It's not exactly seen as the perfect home setting where people want to live."

Amelia sadly nodded. Sairaag had been a nice city, at least from what she could tell from her short time there. It was a shame that no one wanted to live there anymore. On the other hand, many bad memories were tied to the city. A dark omen hung over the area, even if the threat was no longer real. She and Sylphiel had discussed the issue a few times. She should seriously talk to Sylphiel on how to help the city more when she was back in Seyrune. Perhaps Zelgadis could offer assistance. If this cure worked, he wouldn't be wandering the lands in search of one anymore.

A sudden thought drifted in. What would Zelgadis do once he became human? As far as she knew, he had no home. Had he even thought about it?

"Ow! Stupid bump!" Lina cursed.

"Relax, Lina," Gourry replied, chewing a straw. "It's only a few more hours."

"Easy for you to say."

Amelia became lost in her thoughts as she hugged her knees.

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Sairaag was still the same place the gang remembered. The sky was bright and sunny, and much of the ruins and debris had been cleared away, but it still felt the same. It prickled Lina's skin, which was silly since there was no longer anyone here. Yet, the vivid memories of both Copy Rezo and Phibrizzo still lingered, not that Lina wanted to admit it. Every once in awhile the nightmare would repeat in her dreams, only this time there was no happy ending. Lina shrugged it off. Fear never stopped her before and she wasn't about to let it stop her now. They had treasure ... er, a mission to complete!

No one asked Amelia what she was doing when she began to select wild flowers growing among the roots of the sacred tree. Flagoon was still recovering from when Hellmaster Phibrizzo had conquered the city for his own use, but it would take years before it was back to full strength. It was a miracle the tree was still standing after everything it had been through. That was the reason it made the perfect memorial for the victims. The princess laid the flowers at the foot of the tree and said a quiet prayer. Zelgadis folded his arms in silence. Gourry's hand found Lina's and gave it a squeeze.

Once she was done, the group continued. They promptly found the entrance to the lab. To deter any innocent bystander who grew curious enough to explore the lab, a tall stone barricade had been built around it. The area had enough problems without an oblivious person activating one of Rezo's experiments without meaning to.

Amelia and Zelgadis cast levitation to fly over the wall, while Lina carried Gourry over after she cast her own levitation spell. A large, heavy door stood in the place of the magical seal that Rezo had cast on it.

Lina yanked away the weeds and vines that had grown across the door. "So, we're finally here. Let the hunt begin!"

"But, which room do we search in?" asked Amelia.

Lina clicked her tongue. "Most of the lab got destroyed when Copy Rezo resurrected Zanaffar. Granted, considering the explosion, it's a miracle any of it survived."

"Rezo had cast a protective ward over specials rooms he wished to preserve, and this was one of his main labs," Zelgaids replied. "Considering how important the Hellmaster jars were, I wager there's a good chance that a jar or notes about them were kept in one of those rooms."

Lina nodded. "So, any idea which room to start?"

"The library," Zelgadis answered. "Amelia and I have been in there and we found Rezo kept most of his documents there."

"But you explored it thoroughly before, right?" Amelia asked. "What makes you certain there will be information on the jars, if you've checked there already?"

"I looked through it for information on a possible cure, however, I found most of the researches there were possible theories for fighting against Mazoku, which was the main purpose for this lab." He moved to the door. "Seeing as I didn't deem it as important at the time, it's highly possible I did pass by information regarding the jars. So, I think the library is the best place to start."

Gourry sighed. "Should we leave a trail of bread crumbs or something? We had a hard time finding our way the last time and that's putting it mildly."

"Since when is your memory so good, Gourry?" Lina muttered.

Zelgadis opened the door. "I've explored the lab since our battle with Copy Rezo, and I made my own personal detailed notes. So, don't worry, I can find our way down to the library easily."

"I'll be happy as long as we don't have to fight another giant chicken," Lina remarked.

Zelgadis made no comment as he cast the lighting spell and led the group down into the old lab. It had greatly changed since their last visit. Many of the corridors had collapsed or were destroyed from the fight with Copy Rezo.

Unlike their last venture, their walk through the labyrinth was not nearly as frustrating. The chimera had blasted away most of the debris that would have blocked their path. At each turn, Zelgadis glanced at his notes and pointed them in the right direction. The air grew colder and damper as they descended. Even though it was easier to find their way, it still proved to be a long hike. Amelia chewed her bottom lip as they climbed down the fifth set of stairs. Since they entered the lab, her sixth sense had been going wild. "Mister Zelgadis, what happened to the monsters and golems that were guarding this place?"

"I was wondering that, too, actually," Lina agreed. "I know we blasted a lot of golems last time, but so far we haven't encountered another living soul."

Zelgadis lifted his ball of light up to illuminate the next passage. "There doesn't seem to be any guardians left over since Copy Rezo eradicated Sairaag. I didn't encounter any on my last visit." He led them down the corridor. "It's possible that Eris found some way to disable most of the guardians here. She did create a Copy of Rezo who should have been able to control them."

"Since they probably couldn't tell the difference between a copy or the original," Lina replied. "Makes sense, and hey I'm not complaining if we don't have to fight any monsters."

Amelia rubbed the chill off her arm. "But you are certain there are no monsters or golems?"

Zelgadis nodded, which cause Amelia to tighten her frown. She felt a dark presence here. It was not a very strong one, just enough to make her skin tingle. Either it was a weak monster or she was still too far away from the spirit to fully sense it. There was no need to alert the others if there was no evidence of a real threat. It could just be a lingering ghost. In Sairaag, there were probably a number of ghosts floating around. Still, the fact that there were no monsters or golems caused Amelia to raise her guard rather than relax.

"This trip is so different from out last visit down here," Gourry replied.

"That's because we also had Eris and Zangulus on our heels while we were racing to find Rezo's legacy," Lina replied.

"Oh yeah," Gourry muttered. "Why did Eris want to kill us again?"

"Because she blamed us … well, I should say you three, for killing Rezo," Amelia answered. "I felt sorry for her."

"Why?" Zelgadis asked. "She was trying to kill us."

"But I think she was mostly doing it out of grief," Amelia replied. "Losing a person you love can cause a person to do horrible things."

Lina scoffed. "I felt sorry for her, too, but I'm not holding that as a reason for me to roll over and let someone kill me."

"I know," Amelia quickly added. "It was unjust, but it was still sad."

Zelgadis took a left at the next corner and then halted at a pair of large doors. "Here it is."

Amelia recognized the library immediately as soon as the room was opened. It was back when she was just starting to know Zelgadis, and the pair of them had been teleported into the room, thanks to Copy Rezo's spell. She recalled being annoyed with Zelgadis as he was more concerned with reading the books for his cure rather than looking for the rest of their group. Granted, they both had changed a lot since then.

The library had not. It was still dimly light and dust coated the books and shelves. It felt like the ideal place for any ghosts or ghouls to hang about in. The library was not as large as the royal library in Seyrune, but it was still impressive, and from what Zelgadis had told her, it contained books and documents that were not found anywhere else.

Lina gave out a low whistle. "Okay, we're here. Let's split up and each take a different section." She pointed to Amelia. "You start in the right corner, Zelgadis, you can start in the left and I'll take up the middle."

"What about me, Lina?" Gourry asked.

Lina tapped her chin. She knew Gourry was no scholar. The last time she had Gourry help her do research in a library, she had to keep hitting him with her slipper to stop him from falling asleep while reading. "You'll give me a hand finding books, and then search this place top to bottom. This library was built by Rezo, so who knows what kind of pranks or traps he installed in here."

"There shouldn't be any," Zelgadis stated as he took a book off the shelf. "I deactivated most of them during my last trip here."

Lina raised an eyebrow. "When you say deactivated, do you mean you found them, or you accidentally set them off?"

Zelgadis coughed, and moved to another shelf. "I would rather not get into that topic."

"I think that just answered my question," Lina replied with a smirk.

Towers of books began to appear on the table in the center of the library within half an hour. Lina sat in the centre of the pile turning the pages. "Nothing in this one." She picked up another and opened the cover. "Maybe Rezo ..."

A snake leaped from the pages. Lina gave a shrilled scream as she toppled out of her chair. The snake landed on her chest. She blinked at it and steam came out of her ears as she stared at the fake toy. "Zel, I thought you said you found all of Rezo's stupid pranks!"

"I said there shouldn't be many, I never said I found all of them."

Lina growled as she used the chair to steady herself. "Stupid priest. I don't care what anybody says, but he had a weird sense of humour."

Gourry peeked his head around the corner. "Hey Zel, what's this thing?"

Intrigued, Lina trailed after Zelgadis and headed towards Gourry. Gourry was poking a small locked glass case as Amelia joined them. It contained a rusted object that looked like it would be barely worth a copper coin. The best use anyone would get out of it would be as large paperweight.

"I'm guessing it's a sword," Zelgadis replied. "A poorly kept sword. I have no idea why Rezo bothered to put it in a case."

"It's probably another weird joke," Lina replied. "This is the man who happened to have a stuffed animal to place a human soul into."

Zelgadis coughed as Gourry lowered himself and stared at the sword. He wore the grin of a boy in a toy shop. "Can I have it?"

"You want that thing, Mister Gourry?" Amelia asked, shocked. "It would make a weak sword."

Gourry shook his head. "Nah, it just has character. I can fix it up and make it as good as new."

"I don't mind, but ..." Zelgadis looked to Lina, in case she had any objections.

She shrugged. "As long as he isn't spending my money, I don't care."

Zelgadis proceeded to cast an unlock spell onto the case. With a quick snap, the lock dropped and the case opened. Gourry happily picked up the sword and gave it a hard swing. "Yeah, this sword has a nice weight to it."

Lina sighed. "Well, at least Gourry has a nice toy to play with. I'd like to know why Rezo bothered keeping that useless thing though."

"You think that's silly, take a look at this." Amelia pointed to a small clay statue sitting on a side table. It was a replica of Rezo, or at least it seemed to be Rezo. The head was misshapen, the hands were ten times the size of the feet and it was lopsided.

"That," Lina said slowly. "Has to be the ugliest statue of Rezo I have ever seen. Who made that?"

Zelgadis coughed uncomfortably. "I did."

The girls stared wide eyed. "You did, Mister Zelgadis?"

"Geez, Zel, I thought you had better artistic skill than that."

"I was five, all right? I'm more shocked that it still exists in one piece." _Or that Rezo even bothered to keep it._

"Well, I think it's adorable," Amelia replied, eyeing the small object. "Maybe we should take it home with us."

"Yeah, I'm sure it will be good blackmail material later on."

"Miss Lina, that's not what I meant."

"Can we please get back to looking," Zelgadis interrupted, not wanting any more focus on his childhood failure.

The girls both mumbled a "fine" and returned to the search. Gourry had not heard any parts of the conversation. He was too preoccupied with studying his new treasure. He couldn't place his finger on it, but there was something unique about this find. The hilt itself was heavy, but the blade was unnaturally light. He almost felt like he was holding the Sword of Light again. Yet, he inspected the hilt and found there was no place to replace the blade like there was on his family heirloom.

He began to swing, and stepping back as he did so, failing to notice the nearly invisible wire that stretched across the floor. His foot landed on it, causing a fake, flapping toy bat to drop from the ceiling. Startled, Gourry leaned backwards, stepped on his own foot and stumbled. In his attempt to catch himself, he reached for the nearest object, which happened to be the ugly clay statue, and only succeeded in knocking it face down on the table. A low rumble came from the wall behind the statue. Looking up from the floor, he watched as the table moved to the left, and the moving wall revealed a door to a vault.

Gourry rose, just as several pairs of feet raced towards him. "Gourry, what did you do?" Lina asked as she stared in awe.

"Um … I tripped?"

"That's not what I mean."

Zelgadis stepped over Gourry and raced towards the door. "I don't care what you did, but you made an important discovery."

"Do you know what's inside the vault?" Amelia asked, as she assisted Gourry back to his feet.

"No clue. I didn't even know this existed here. However, if Rezo went to this much trouble to hide it, there must be valuable information in there." He began to turn the dial. It appeared Rezo used a lock similar to the style in the outer world. He reached into his pocket and brought out his lock-picking kit.

"Why not use an unlock spell?" asked Gourry.

"Because, knowing Rezo, for a secret vault like this, he probably took the trouble to cast spells on it to prevent unlock spells," Lina replied.

"Exactly." Zelgadis slipped on his stethoscope and played with the dial, listening for the right clicks. "Rezo was always careful to protect his work." He made two right turns. Nope, that wasn't right. He turned left, then right. He heard a click. "I almost got it," he mumbled. Then he heard three clicks in a row. "Got it!" he exclaimed.

"Zel, I want you to teach me that," Lina said.

Gourry shuddered. "The last thing you need is a means to steal more money."

As Lina's slipper promptly greeted Gourry's head, Amelia moved beside Zelgadis. "What do you think is in there?"

"No idea," Zelgadis said as he gripped the handle. "But we're going to find out." An ear-splitting creak echoed through the library. A gust of stale air and grime wafted at them as the door was pulled aside. The inside was pitch black. Amelia cast a light spell and slowly extended her arm. They needed to take caution in case any traps were set up.

The small room was filled with piles of books and chests. There was a strong odor of mildew and dried ink. As Amelia ventured inside she felt a shiver. There was that presence again. It was still faint, but she felt colder. _Was this where it lived?_

"What's wrong Amelia?" Lina asked.

"I sense a spirit." Amelia turned as she chewed her bottom lip. "I've been sensing it for awhile now, but I didn't say anything because I didn't think it was dangerous."

Zelgadis narrowed his eyes. "Does it feel threatening now?"

Amelia shook her head. "No, but it's stronger here."

Lina folded her arms. "We'll keep our guard up then, but it's probably nothing to worry about."

"How can you say a spirit is nothing to worry about?" Gourry asked as he searched about the vault for any sign of danger.

"Spirits and ghosts hang out in old ruins all the time. A lot of them will usually leave people alone as long as they're not disturbed."

"It's likely a lingering spirit from when Sairaag was destroyed," Zelgadis added. "So, unless it suddenly attacks us, it's nothing to waste time worrying over."

"If you say so," said Gourry, not sounding convinced.

Lina said nothing as she opened one of the books. "It looks like a lot of this is research for fighting mazoku."

Zelgadis nodded as he examined another pile of books. "No doubt this was part of the research Rezo was trying to use to fight Shabranigdu. However, there are also some notes here about copies. Maybe ... "

"Mister Zelgadis look at this!" The princess tightly clutched the thick notebook as she held it out. "This book is full of designs for the Hellmaster jars."

Zelgadis took the book and flipped through the pages. There were a dozen rough sketches of jar designs. Some of the jars were taller and thinner than the ones that were used on Pokota, Duclis and Nama. He continued to flip through the pages until he got to the last page. The last sketch looked the most similar to the final design of the jar. It didn't appear to be as large, but it had a round, fat shape. Zelgadis turned the page and read the handwriting on the back.

"According to this, this was the first jar Rezo made." Zelgadis couldn't hide the excitement in his voice. "It's suppose to be locked in this vault." He read further. "In a chest."

Lina rolled her eyes as she eyed the dozens of chests that laid in the vault. "That doesn't narrow it down, Zel."

"A large black chest, with a red crystal on it."

"You mean like that one in the corner," Gourry answered.

The group looked where Gourry indicated and at once dashed towards it. It took only a few moments for Zelgadis to pick the lock and open the lid. They all stared into the chest. The jar that was sketched into the small notebook stood before them. Almost afraid a mere touch would break it, Zelgadis gently lifted the jar. "This is it. I can't believe we found it."

"Neither can I, this was unnaturally easy" Lina commented. She patted Zelgadis on the back. "Oh well, congrats, Zel, you're one step closer to your goal."

Amelia nodded. While she was excited, she was still concerned about the spirit. The spirit's presence had gradually grown stronger, then suddenly disappeared as if a door had locked it away. She rubbed her arms, hoping to rid herself of the lingering chill.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Zelgadis tucked the jar into his astral pocket before they began their march back up the path. He was not risking the chance of him or somebody else accidentally shattering the jar on their way out of the lab. It was past nightfall when the group returned to the clearing and decided to camp there. Gourry started a fire while the girls brought out the bedrolls. Normally, they would have assigned the last job of preparing food to Zelgadis, but they had a silent agreement to let the chimera read and look over his notes. In his distracted state, he most likely would have burned the food anyway.

Zelgadis ate little, muttering about the information floating around in his head. Lina nearly made a comment about how crazy he looked, but stopped when Amelia poked her ribs and glared. Once Zelgadis finished his meal, he went back to researching.

Lina and Gourry began to argue who was going to have the second helping. Amelia debated if she should try to snag the leftover food for herself or go talk to Zelgadis. She deemed chatting with Zelgadis would be less life-threatening. She walked over to his spot beneath a tree and noticed his ears twitched as she approached.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you," Amelia asked.

Zelgadis shook his head. "I was thinking about putting the notes away and getting some sleep. We want to leave as early as possible."

The princess nodded. They sat together, listening to the soft chirps of the crickets and the rustles of various creatures of the night. The questions from earlier began to drift into her mind again. She chewed her bottom lip. Perhaps she should bring it up now. The chimera was getting close to his cure, so it was only logical for him to start thinking about the aftermath. "Mister Zelgadis, what are you going to do once you're human?"

Zelgadis looked up from his papers. "What do you mean?"

"You won't have to search for your cure anymore. Are you planning to live somewhere?"

Zelgadis frowned and let his gaze stray toward the moon. "I don't know. I haven't given much thought to it since I don't want to get my hopes up too high."

"But we seem so close now," Amelia continued. "You should give it some thought."

Zelgadis lowered his head. "I suppose you're right. I don't know about staying in one place. I've always been a nomad, even as a child." He tucked the piles of notes in his astral pocket. "Rezo was constantly traveling, and of course, I went with him since he was my only family."

"So, you don't have a home of your own?" Amelia asked, confirming her suspicions.

"Correct, but it's not something to cry over. I've never been bothered by it."

"You could come live in Seyrune," Amelia said automatically. "I'm sure Daddy would be more than happy to offer you a room in the palace, or, if you would rather, we could find you your own place in the city."

Zelgadis gave her a small smile. "I'll remember that, but I'll probably still travel. There's other bits of research I've been wanting to explore for years, but I set it aside to focus on my cure."

Amelia nodded. She was not surprised by his answer, but she still wished he would change his mind. It would be wonderful if they could live in the same place, even if for a little while. She blushed at the thought. "You'll always have a place in Seyrune, even if you're just passing through."

"I know, and I do appreciate it."

Amelia smiled back and went back to listening to the sounds of the night. It was not long before the pair made their way back to camp, and the group went to sleep for the night.

In a far-off tree, a dark figure observed the small group. He held his staff over his shoulders as he pondered his situation. His mistress had ordered him to destroy all the jars, but no doubt Zelgadis and the group would fight him tooth and nail if he snatched this one now. Xellos grinned to himself. No, it was better to be patient and watch without being noticed.

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Lina tapped her chin in thought as she read over the notes. "There's a lot of detail explaining how Rezo created the jar, but the actual execution of extracting a soul and placing it into a new vessel is rather straightforward." She brushed her hair back, tucking it behind her ear to keep the wind from blowing tendrils into her face. "The only difficult part is that the caster has to be a high-level mage since it takes massive power to control it."

"Not to mention you need complete concentration while you're casting," Zelgadis added.

"What happens if you lose concentration?" Gourry asked.

"The castor could accidentally put the soul into the wrong body," Lina explained and then gave Zelgadis a mocking grin. "Which means we could accidentally put Zel's soul into a cute little doll with a lace dress."

Zelgadis twitched. "And if that happens, I can guarantee you'll forever have to sleep with your eyes open."

"Kidding, Zel," Lina replied with a laugh, patting him on the shoulder. "Although, it is tempting."

"So, Miss Lina, do you think you can do it?" Amelia asked as she tried not to picture how cute a doll Zelgadis would be.

"It's not like we have much choice," Lina replied, placing her hands behind her head. "Zel can't do it since he's going to be the soul we're transferring. Besides, I am the most powerful sorceress here."

"Not to mention," Zelgadis cut in, "that Amelia should stay on the side lines just in case something goes wrong. It's not a wise idea to risk the main healer in the group."

Gourry nodded. "I get ya, but you're sure you can handle this, Lina?"

"It's tricky, but it should be all right. I just have to memorize the process, which should be simpler, thanks to Zel cutting down the information."

Zelgadis gave a curt nod. Rezo's notes were detailed - almost too detailed. Over-writing had always been one of Rezo's more notorious bad habits. As a his student, Zelgadis was used to understanding Rezo's complicated notes. It took longer than expected, but he had succeeded in taking Rezo's information and creating a simple and easier set of instructions for Lina to understand. Zelgadis was confident Lina could understand the original version just fine, but reading it would take more time to memorize.

"Perhaps if the jar works for Mister Zelgadis, we should bring the jar to Mister Pocota?" Amelia suggested.

"Why?" Gourry asked. "Pocota doesn't have a copy body for him to switch with does he?"

Amelia shook her head. "No, but … it seems only fair to bring the jar to him. He might be able to find a way to being a full human again."

Lina nodded. "If anything, we can always give him the notes for research, and Pocota would keep them safe. Do you have any objections to that, Zel?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "I won't have any need for them once I'm human. I would even be willing to help him with the research."

"That would be a wonderful idea!" Amelia exclaimed. "It would be a great way for you two to bond."

"Yeah, cause the whole 'got turned into a different creature' by the same insane man wasn't enough of a bonding experience," Lina commented. "Anyway, let's just focus on getting Zel back to being human, then we can focus on Pocota. We don't want to count our chickens before they hatch."

Gourry scratched his head. "I thought we were using jars, not chickens."

Lina grumbled and whacked Gourry with her slipper as they continued down the road.

It took a week for the group to arrive back at the cabin. They managed to save time by hitching rides on wagons of traveling farmers and merchants. Lina and Zelgadis used every waking moment preparing. A day before the group arrived at the cabin, Lina knew the spell by heart. All they would need now were the final preparations.

Since the small town would not have a magic shop with the proper supplies, the group bought what they needed to use the Hellmaster jar as they had gone through one of the larger towns before arriving at their destination. According to Rezo's notes, his first jar was more complicated to use when compared to his later jars, including the ones used on Pocota and Duclis.

They needed white chalk to draw a ward around the jar, the bodies for the souls to be transferred into, and rune stones placed at each point to strengthen the spell. While they were in the town, Amelia sneaked away to another shop, and returned with a small package as the group prepared to leave. Zelgadis had thought to ask what she bought, but he knew Amelia would have told them if she felt it was important. Once all the items were purchased, they headed down the road that led to the small town, and stayed at the inn for the night.

The next day, the group gathered their items and headed toward the cabin. The ceremony required for the moon to be high in the sky, so they would have to wait until it got dark to start the spell. This proved to be ideal since it would take all day to make the preparations and draw the runes.

They reached the cabin and immediately went down to the cellar. Gourry rotated his shoulders, mentally preparing himself for the manual labor. "So, what should we do first, Lina?"

"You boys go break Zel's copy out of the incubation tube. It won't do Zel much good to wake up in a tube of water." Lina dug into the bag and brought out the white chalk. "While you do that, Amelia and I are going to set up the ward."

Zelgadis nodded. "Alright let's go-"

"Wait," Amelia exclaimed. She brought out the package she had gotten in the city. "This is for you, Mister Zelgadis."

The chimera tugged at the string. The paper fell open, revealing a stack of folded clothes. "What's this?"

"Clothes for your copy. I was able to find clothes that were similar to your everyday clothing."

"Why?" Lina asked. "Zel can just use the clothes he's wearing now."

"Except that would mean either Zel or the copy would be naked during the spell, right?" Gourry asked.

"Exactly!" Amelia stated. A light blush appeared on her cheeks. "I didn't think we wanted a repeat of the last time we saw your copy."

Zelgadis coughed. "Yes, I see your point. Thank you, Amelia."

Amelia smiled, and followed Lina to move the table against the wall, to have enough space for the ward. Zelgadis and Gourry searched for a latch or a handle to open the tube, but, to their dismay, found none. They had to resort to the messier method of Gourry breaking the glass with his sword. Water gushed from the tube. The mindless copy collapsed to the floor like a ragdoll.

Zelgadis carefully examined his copy for any scratches or cuts from the broken glass, but was glad to discover it was unharmed. Gourry found a couple of towels to dry the copy, and the boys dressed it with the clothes Amelia purchased. It felt surreal for Zelgadis to be dressing himself. He decided it was a safe bet that he would have odd dreams for the next week as a result.

The group drew closer to being ready with each step as the day passed. Zelgadis' heart beat faster in anticipation. He forced himself to remain calm - at least on the surface. He never felt so nervous and excited in his life. By midnight he would either still be a chimera, or restored to being a full human again. He dared not think about how he would react if the spell failed.

Meanwhile, the girls drew the ward in the center of the room. It was a long process since even the slightest wobble of a line could ruin the spell. Once the ward was drawn, Lina picked out the rune stones and placed them in each corner of the ward. Amelia had searched the cellar until she found some mats and placed them in the center. She figured it would be more comfortable for Zelgadis to lay on a mat instead of the cold floor. The jar was placed between the mats.

By the time Zelgadis and Gourry had the copy dressed, Lina was wiping the chalk dust off her hands. "We're all set. Is Zel number two ready?"

Gourry lifted the copy by his shoulders, while Zelgadis grabbed his legs. "We're all ready, Lina," Gourry replied. "Where should we put Zel's copy?"

"On one of the mats. Amelia, give him a hand. Zel, you get yourself ready and I'll take one last look at the notes to double-check everything."

Zelgadis removed his cape and laid down on the mat as Lina speed-read through the notes again. His heart was beating uncontrollably as Amelia paced around the circle, double-checking that each rune stone was in place. Once her task was done, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and headed off to perch against the far wall. Amelia was shortly joined by Gourry. "I hope this works," she whispered to him.

"I'm just hoping nothing blows up."

Lina slammed the book shut and walked into the center of the ward. "All right, everybody, I'm going to start the spell. Once I begin, nobody can leave or enter the ward, or it will disrupt the spell. Zel, try to remain still since we don't know how sensitive this jar is."

Zelgadis nodded. "Just be careful, Lina. I would prefer to not end up in your body."

"You would be lucky if you got my body," Lina replied with a wink. She took a deep breath and clapped her hands. The ward was activated and glowed brightly. Lina could feel its power rippling through her body. She focused her attention onto the jar. She strengthened her arms outward and touched the rim of the jar with her fingertips. She had added the jar's power and combined it with the ward's energy flowing through her veins. The Hellmaster jar was under her control.

_Now comes the fun part._ Lina turned her head in Zelgadis' direction. She pointed her hand to his body. As she did, Zelgadis's soul became entangled in the spell. Lina gave a gentle tug to ensure she had control. Zelgadis let out a gasp as his soul was pulled. Lina winced. She didn't want to hurt him if she could avoid it. Once Lina confirmed she had a firm grip on Zelgadis's soul, she lifted her arm and tore it out of the chimera body. She anticipated a loud scream, but to her astonishment, there was none.

Lina suspected pulling out the soul caused an instant blackout for the host. Returning her attention to the task at hand, Lina let the jar suck in Zelgadis's soul. Lina took a moment to catch her breath. Sweat dripped down from her forehead. She braced against her knees for support. All of the magic flowing through her was a huge strain on her body. She could handle it because of her great levels of magical power, and Rezo probably had barely blinked an eye while doing it. If anyone else dared attempted this and his or her magic skill was much lower, it could easily kill the caster.

Lina steadied herself and got ready for the last vital part. She pulled on her connection to the jar. Then something strange occurred. She instantly felt Zelgadis's familiar soul, but Lina felt something else stirring in the jar. Lina chewed her lip. This wasn't right. This jar should have been empty. Lina shook her head. She didn't have time to think about it now.

She gently lifted Zelgadis's soul from the jar. With a sharp wave of her arm, Lina pointed to the copy version of Zelgadis. His soul flew from the jar and into its new host. Lina waited a moment until she felt the soul attach itself to the human body.

Lina watched, holding her breath. Then, to her delight, Zelgadis's chest began to rise and she heard him breathe. Lina dropped her arms and broke the connection from the ward to the jar. The bright light coming off the ward dimmed, and vanished. Lina dropped to her knees, breathing heavily as Amelia raced to kneel beside the human copy.

"Mister Zelgadis, are you all right?"

A groaned escaped the human copy's lips. His eyes flew opened. Amelia braced his back, helping him to sit up, barely noticing that Gourry was helping Lina back to her feet.

Slowly, he spoke. "Did it work?"

Lina grinned, leaning into Gourry's hold as she regained her balance. "As far as I can tell, you're 100 percent human, Zel."

He stared as he flexed his now-pale fingers. "It worked. It really worked," he whispered.

Lina shrugged off Gourry's arm, headed to a shelf and grabbed a small mirror. "Here, take a look."

Zelgadis clutched the mirror, almost afraid to see himself. He saw the face he hadn't seen in years. He rubbed his cheeks and tugged his ears. He quietly laughed. "I'm human again. I wasn't sure if I would ever get to say that."

"Congratulations," Gourry said as he helped him to his feet.

Zelgadis stumbled slightly and Gourry caught him. "Sorry," Zelgadis replied. "Still haven't gotten use to the new body."

Gourry nodded. "I think you just need some food in your system."

"Some food?" Lina scoffed. "This calls for a celebration!"

"Wait, Miss Lina," Amelia turned her head to the old chimera body. "What should we do with Mister Zelgadis's old body?"

"That should be up to Zel."

Zelgadis narrowed his eyes. "As happy as I am, just to be sure there's nothing wrong with this human body, let's hang on to my chimera body for awhile."

"Should we put it into that incubation tube…er..what's left of it?" Gourry asked.

"It should be fine where it is now," Lina said.

"But, what if someone takes it or the jar?"

"No one knows about this place, and who would steal a soulless chimera body?" Lina led the way to the stairway. "The body and the jar should be safe here. We'll set up some protection spells just in case. Then, we'll come back in the morning and take care of them both. Right now, we need to party!"

Lina glanced back at the jar. _There's still that presence I felt, but it could have been nothing. It might have just been the power of the jar I was feeling. It should be safe for now. Besides, I am not ruining the mood._

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The moon was high in the night sky as Xellos entered the cabin. Who would have thought that Rezo would have a lab in such an ordinary place? It was quite boring really. Xellos lifted the latch. His hand prickled as the protection wards sprang into action.

Xellos rid of himself of the mere annoyance by opening his eyes and shattering the wards instantly. He hummed to himself as he ventured down the stairway. He spotted the mindless chimera body, and was slightly intrigued, but he chose not to dwell on the matter. He had to complete his orders.

He approached the jar that was still standing in the center of the used ward. This would be simple. Xellos raised his staff and smashed the jar. The pieces scattered. Xellos could sense the power escaping and vaporizing in the air.

"Well, that's been taken care of," Xellos replied. "Perhaps I'll go for a-"

He sensed a presence. A spirit. A human spirit and quite a strong one. Dark smoke rose from the smashed pieces of the jar. The smoke rose and flowed into the mouth of Zelgadis's old body. "My, this is inconvenient." Xellos muttered. The smoke disappeared fully into the body and the chimera body sprang up.

Black smoke leaked from its lips. The chimera's hair suddenly grew longer and reached down to its waist. The nails grew sharper and thicker, transforming into claws. The eyes held no life, only an eerie white glow.

_It must be due to the spirit being inside the jar. It seems to have given the spirit extra power and modifying the body as a result._

The possessed chimera snarled.

_And its grudge and anger is also a good bonus._

The spirit eyed Xellos and snarled.

Xellos raised his hand. "Oh, don't worry about me. I have other things to attend to. I'll just let Mister Zelgadis deal with you since it's his body."

"Zel-gad-dis…" the chimera hissed in a voice that made it hard to determine whether it was male or female.

"Ah, you know him."

"Re-ven-ge…"

"He's in town if you want to have a chat with him." He glanced at his pocket watch. "With that said, I must be going. I do have errands to run." Xellos quickly vanished, leaving the chimera to find his own way out.

He selected a tree to take a seat. Xellos could have easily destroyed the creature, but he was feeling lazy, and was curious. Something else had been held captive in that jar. He could sense it was once a human. Hardly a threat to the mazoku race, but he wanted to see just how much of an influence the jar had on a normal spirit. The spirit was clearly mutated thanks to being kept in the jar for so long. It could be useful information for his Mistress. Besides, it would be far more fun to see how Miss Lina and her friends handled the situation of seeing Zelgadis's old body being possessed. It would be a delightful experiment.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Zelgadis' celebration ended being postponed. He was exhausted, and it was late when the group arrived back to town. He could barely keep his eyes open. Next to him, Lina was barely suppressing her own yawns. Amelia suggested they let Zelgadis and Lina sleep and the celebration would start tomorrow. Zelgadis would be able to fully enjoy his new body after he rested, she explained. Lina, Gourry and Amelia began to debate about what they should do for a celebration, but Zelgadis tuned them out as he climbed the stairs, entered his room and collapsed on his bed.

He tossed his shirt on the floor and crawled under the covers. The cool sheets were soothing against his skin. It felt like merely a minute had passed from when he closed his eyes to when he awoke to find sunlight in his face. He stretched his arm toward the ceiling, rotating it from side to side as the early morning sun bounced off his pale skin. He was human. It hadn't been a dream.

He sat up and ran his fingers through his soft hair, half expecting for his fingertips to be pricked by needles. He caught his reflection in a mirror. His eyes never left it as he picked up his new shirt and perched at the end of the bed, the shirt hanging limply from his hand. "I still can't believe it's over," he muttered.

He traced his cheekbone and chin. The bendable texture of his skin was so alien and yet so familiar that it was bizarre. Feeling the texture change from smooth to rough as he stroked his chin caught him off guard. _I need to shave already?_ He laughed at himself. _Too bad I don't have shaving cream, although Gourry probably has some I could borrow. Wait, do I even remember how to shave?_

He toyed with the option of knocking on Gourry's door to borrow some. However, the hairs were faint and not noticeable to the naked eye just yet. He decided to wait and ask Gourry about it later.

Zelgadis slipped on his new shirt. Amelia had done a good job finding him clothes that were identical to his old ones. The only thing missing was his red stone pin. He had bought it on a whim after Zolf had teased him about not having enough colour in his outfit. Still, he would have to fetch it back later. He felt odd without it.

He went to the washbasin and filled it to the brim with fresh water. He took the soap, now slippery under his smooth fingerpads, and scrubbed his face and hands. Rubbing his face against the rough washcloth provided by the inn felt like he was caressing silk. Most people would not think much of missing the sensation of washing against a clean cloth, but those people hadn't been dealing with a pot scrubber for the last six years of their life.

There was a knock at the door. "Mister Zelgadis, are you awake?"

Zelgadis finished drying his face. "I am. Come in."

Amelia opened the door, greeting him with a smile. "Miss Lina and Mister Gourry have ordered breakfast for everyone so ..."

"If I want to be able to eat anything, I need to go down before they eat us out of house and home?"

Amelia nodded and moved around him to get a closer view of his face. "How are you feeling? Does your new body feel strange at all?"

Zelgadis shook his head. He knew Amelia had a good reason to be worried. There was always the chance this copy was defective. That was the main reason he wanted to keep his old chimera body around, in case there was an emergency and he was forced to switch back. He preferred not to think of that. "I feel fine. Although, getting used to not having stone skin is an adjustment."

"That's good." Amelia dug in her pocket. "Here, I took this before we left the lab." She held out his red pin. "I would have given it to you yesterday, but you seemed too tired to notice it was gone."

Zelgadis took the pin and pinned it back onto its normal spot on his shirt. "Thank you. I was feeling rather odd without it."

Amelia tugged on his arm. "Well, let's go. I want to eat some pancakes before Mister Gourry devours them all."

Zelgadis nodded as he let her lead the way.

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"Hey Zel, you might want to slow down there." Lina stabbed her eggs with her fork. "That's your fourth pancake."

"Miss Lina, I don't think you're the best expert to tell someone they're overeating." Amelia handed the maple syrup to Zelgadis. "Besides, he hasn't eaten since yesterday and that copy body has been in an incubation tube all this time ..."

"I wouldn't bother, Amelia," Gourry grinned at her. "Lina just doesn't want to share the pancakes."

"Oh yeah." Lina aimed her fork at Gourry's plate. "Then I'll just take one of your sausages as punishment."

Gourry blocked the fork with his own. "Punishment? For what?"

"For not backing me up!"

"Oh, come on! Give me a break, and don't touch my toast."

Zelgadis ignored the ongoing battle as he sipped his tea. He was unusually hungry, but this was the first real meal in his new body. He took another piece of toast and spread jam on it at the same moment Gourry groaned in defeat as Lina speared the last of his sausage.

Gourry shook his head, then glanced at Zelgadis. His brow furrowed in an unusually serious expression. Zelgadis raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong, Gourry?"

"No, but I just realized something that I guess I didn't notice before in your chimera body."

Lina rolled her eyes. "And what is this great revelation?" She cringed as she recalled Gourry making a similar statement about Xellos being "really old" years ago … but, Gourry had been right about Xelloss being a Mazoku, so she knew to give his words some attention.

Gourry folded his hands behind his head. "Zel looks a lot like that Rezo guy."

Zelgadis' fork froze just inches from his mouth, syrup dripping off the piece of pancake he'd speared. "What?" he gasped.

"It's true. If you tucked away that piece of hair covering your face, you look like him."

Curious now, Amelia leaned forward and gently place the hair that constantly hung over half his face behind his ear. Amelia blinked with surprise. "You're right, Mister Gourry, he does."

Zelgadis blushed as he brushed his hair back into place. "Do you mind if we change the subject?"

"Oh, come on, Zel," Lina said as she poured herself more tea. "You can't tell me no one told you that before you were a chimera."

Zelgadis sighed. "Oh, I was told. Plenty of times. It was getting so bad that it was the reason I started wearing my hair like this in the first place."

He lowered his fork, his appetite suddenly gone. He had forgotten about that until this moment. It didn't bother him as a child. But as he grew older, the number of people constantly telling him how much he resembled his holy grandfather irked him greatly. He didn't want the striking resemblance with Rezo being the only thing people saw in Zelgadis. He refused to live in his great-grandfather's shadow.

Attempting his new hair style was his small method of separating himself from the man. When Rezo turned him into a chimera, he no longer had to worry about that issue. It could be consider sacrilege to mistake a chimera for being a great holy sage. He toyed with his teacup, not noticing Gourry's fork slip in and steal his abandoned pancake.

"So, what are your plans today, Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia asked. "It's your celebration. Did you decide what we should do?"

Zelgadis sipped his tea. "Walk around town."

Lina blinked. "That's it?"

"With my hood down." The corner of his mouth quirked in a half-smile. For once, he wouldn't have to worry about questioning or frightened stares. He was going to enjoy every minute of it.

"I get ya," Lina replied, sounding unimpressed. "But I was hoping for something with a bit more pizazz."

Gourry snapped his fingers. "Hey, why don't we book rooms at the hot springs for the night?"

"Hey, good suggestion, jellyfish brain." Lina slapped Gourry's back. "I knew there were some brains rattling around up there!"

"Hey!"

"What hot springs?" Amelia quickly asked.

"It's just right outside town," Lina explained. "It's between here and the woods."

Amelia racked her brain for a moment. "Oh wait, I remember going by it on my way here. It seemed like a nice place."

Lina leaned across the table and winked. "So, what do you say, Zel? You can't deny a dip in a hot spring wouldn't feel good right now."

Zelgadis tapped his finger against the saucer. "I can't think of a good reason why not to."

"Then it's settled!" Lina took a second helping of bacon. "Later, we'll meet at the edge of town and head for a dip in the hot springs."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Gourry said. "That will give me time to start cleaning up my new sword."

Lina shook her head. "I still don't get why you're attracted to that worthless piece of junk."

"It's not a worthless piece of junk!"

As the pair began to argue, Zelgadis chewed his toast as he made his own plans.

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The possessed chimera hunted the woods. _He_ had been here, the one who had abandoned him. The spirit sensed his magic. The trail was faint, but it glowed and beckoned like a siren's call. Then, the magical scent hit the creature like a wave.

The creature froze as the it breathed in the magical scent like a shark smelling the trail of blood in the water. A single heartbeat passed, then the creature raced down the path. It would find Zelgadis, and he would pay dearly for his crime.

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The hot springs turned Zelgadis' new skin different hues of pink and red. Content as a cat sunning itself on a window ledge, he lazily picked up a bucket and dumped a pailful of water over his head. Gourry had all ready left the spring to meet the girls for dinner. Zelgadis promised he would be there eventually, but he wanted to soak a little longer. His day had been simply glorious. It was amazing how little things could be taken for granted.

He was able to stroll around town, enter shops, and order a cup of tea with his hood down. Nobody gave him a second glance. He could remove his shoes to walk barefoot and feel the grass, and even do the simple task of brushing his hair without a steel comb. It was not the most exciting day in his life, but it was the best normal day he ever had.

As Zelgadis' skin began to resemble a raisin, he came to the decision it was time to leave the water. He dried himself, luxuriating in the feel of the soft towel. These were much higher quality than the ones at the inn. Funny that. As a chimera, he wouldn't have noticed the difference.

He pulled on clean clothes and strolled to the eating hall. As he turned the corner, he saw Lina and Gourry were playing tug of war with a chicken drumstick. Amelia waved to him. "Over here, Mister Zelgadis!"

He waved back as he took a seat. "I see you already ordered. So, what do they serve here?"

Lina let go of the drumstick and Gourry gave a victory grin, even though he wound up tumbling out of his chair in the process. "Actually Zel, before you order, we got something for you," Lina announced.

Zelgadis folded his arms over the table. "Oh?"

"Just some small gifts," Amelia explained as she brought up a tray holding several wrapped items from under the table. "We just thought we should show you how happy we are for you."

"And, it gave Amelia and I an excuse to shop," Lina added with a wink.

Gourry wiped his fingers with a napkin. "Open my first, Zel, it's the one in the middle."

Zelgadis picked up the present and tore off the brown paper. He rotated the small, ornate wooden box in his hands and removed the lid to find a bottle of shaving cream and a sharp razor.

"I figured you needed some," Gourry replied as he propped his elbows on the table.

"A beard wouldn't suit him to begin with," Lina commented.

Zelgadis smiled as he put the lid back on the box. "I do need one, thanks, Gourry."

"Open mine next," Lina stated as she pointed to the present nearest him. "I picked it out especially for you."

"You're giving me a good reason not to open it by saying that." Zelgadis was more cautious opening the second gift. He anticipated having a snake or a pair of a fake bunny ears inside the box, or even having the box explode. Instead, he found a bottle of hair gel and a large brush.

"You can give yourself a new hairstyle," said Lina as she got up from her seat and moved behind Zelgadis.

"I've never wanted to before."

"Yeah, but now that you're human again you have the option. Go for a brand new you. I'll even help you."

Zelgadis tucked the items back into the box quickly before Lina could grab the brush. There was no telling what he'd look like if he let Lina Inverse style his hair. "I appreciate the sentiment, but I'll stick to the old me for now."

Lina shrugged. "Suit yourself, but I think a mohawk would do you wonders."

"You think?" Gourry asked as Lina flopped back in her chair. "Hey, you think you could make him look like that Black Fox guy from awhile back?"

"I was thinking more of a Halcyform style, but that's not a bad idea."

"Here's mine, Mister Zelgadis." Amelia pushed the present in front of him as Lina and Gourry began to discuss outlandish hairstyles. It was the largest of all the gifts. Unlike the others, it did not seem to be in a box and it was tied off with a large, red bow. He carefully untied the ribbon and tore off the paper. He blinked at the pair of blue silk pajamas.

He looked to Amelia who was blushing a little. "I thought you might like to sleep in something more comfortable. I hope I got the right size."

He lay his fingers against the smooth texture. "It's fine. Thank you, Amelia."

Lina snapped her fingers. "Damn, you didn't buy him lingerie. Looks like I lost the bet. I owe you a gold, Gourry."

"MISS LINA!"

"Relax, it's a joke!"

Zelgadis looked down to hide his red face and tried to change the subject. "Well, thank you for the gifts, but you didn't have to do this."

Gourry shrugged. "It's not like they cost much, and you are finally human now. That doesn't happen everyday."

"Speaking of which," Lina said as she eyed him seriously. "How is the new body? Any complications?"

Zelagadis shook his head. "I keep forgetting this originally wasn't my body, to tell you the truth. Everything is working normally."

"Good," Lina nodded as she picked up another drumstick. "Last thing we want is to rush you back to the cabin because we have to switch you back."

"While we're on the topic," Amelia stated. "We should go back tomorrow and store away Zelgadis' chimera body properly."

Lina nodded. "We will, but you don't have to worry so much. It's not like the thing is going to get up and walk away." (Jinxed yourself, Lina)

Zelgadis nodded, and then began the debate of what he should order for dinner.

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Zelgadis was never a huge fan of silk. It was not a durable fabric, and he never cared much for looking fashionable even before he was transformed into a chimera. Yet, he still put on the new pair of pajamas Amelia had given him. He did appreciate the thought she put into it, and he had to admit he did enjoy the smooth fabric against his skin. If he still had his old stone skin, the silk would have ripped to pieces by morning.

He climbed into bed, sinking blissfully into the luxurious mattress. He had no clue what he would do once the group stored his chimera body, but he didn't care. This was the first time in years he didn't have a goal in mind, and he wanted to enjoy it just a bit longer.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he startled awake. Moonlight still streamed through the room, and he heard his doorknob rattling for a moment before the door creaked open. It was too late for the girls or Gourry to be entering his room. He laid still as he heard the steps move closer. The hair on the back of his neck rose as the intruder breathed heavily like a wild animal. It was too dark to tell if it was a man or a woman, although its frame was lean and it was no taller than Zelgadis.

Beneath the blanket, Zelgadis gradually reached for the sword he had placed near the side of his bed. "Kill traitor, kill trait," he heard in a creepily familiar voice.

Zelgadis chanted under his breath. The stranger raised its arm. Zelgadis bolted from the bed, blinding his enemy with a light spell as he sprung up. He pivoted, sword in hand to strike. The intruder howled in pain as it stumbled forward in front of the window. Any plan of attack Zelgadis had formed was lost as he stared in shock at the intruder. The moonlight gave him a clear view of the attacker. It was either himself, or someone playing a very twisted joke.

No, Zelgadiss realized with growing horror. It was his chimera body. It had sported long hair and grew sharper claws in the hours since they'd left the hut, but it was his old body none the less.

The chimera recovered from the blinding light and stared directly at Zelgadis, the lack of pupils in its eyes caused him to wonder if he was trapped in a nightmare.

"Kill Zelgadis," the chimera chanted in a possessed voice.

Zelgadis broke out of his stunned state long enough to cast Astral Vine onto his sword. The sword glowed red as the creature pounced.

Zelgadis hit the floor, rolling to dodge the attack. He swiped at its arm. The chimera ducked, slashing at his side. Zelgadis used the moment to cut the chimera's arm again. As the claws cut into his flesh, Zelgadis realized his fatal error.

He screamed in pain and rolled onto his back, clutching his wound. Warm blood dripped down his fingers, a reminder that he was human now. Zelagadis cursed at himself. How could he forget he no longer had stone skin to rely on during battle? The wound was almost burning. The chimera wasted no time to strike again.

Zelgadis raised his sword, but knew he was done for.

"Elemkia Lance!" The arrow of light struck the creature hard. It sailed back to the far wall and slammed against the floor. Amelia, dressed in pink silk pajamas that looked like a mirror image of his own, rushed to Zelgadis' side. "Are you all right?"

He hissed, gripping his side. "Never mind me." Zelgadis pointed. "Worry about that!"

The creature climbed to its feet and hissed. "Kill the traitor!"

Zelgadis opened his mouth to warn Amelia, but was cut off by Gourry as he raced in, sword in hand. "What the hell? Zel, isn't that your body?"

Lina shoved herself past Gourry. "I don't care if it's Zel's grandmother," Lina snapped. "It needs to be toasted now!" She took a stance, a fireball blooming to life between her cupped hands.

The chimera flexed its claws like a panther and bared its sharp teeth. Lina threw the fireball. The creature turned and crashed through the window moments before the fireball hit it. The glass shattered, spraying into the room just as the fireball exploded and took out the rest of the wall with it.

Gourry grabbed the girls and immediately turned so his back caught the brunt of the debris. Amelia quickly cast a Freeze Arrow, dousing the flames. Once the flames died down, Lina and Gourry dashed to look out through the giant hole while Amelia knelt by Zelgadiss.

"Well?" Zelgadis asked.

Gourry shook his head. "It's gone, but I doubt we've seen the last of that thing."

"We need to go after it." Zelgadis hissed in pain as he attempted to move.

"You're not going anywhere!" Amelia demanded, chanting a healing spell. "You're staying put so I can heal you."

"We're not going to be able to find it in the dark," Lina added. "We don't need to go anywhere until we figure out what the hell just happened."

"Zelgadis got attacked by his old body," Gourry commented. "I thought that was rather clear."

Lina yanked off her slipper and whacked him with it. "I know that! Don't you think it's strange for it to be moving on its on?"

"It's not." Zelgadis relaxed as he let the warmth of the healing spell spread through his body. "It's possessed. I don't know how, but it's possessed."

"Hey," Gourry cried, slamming his fist into his palm. "Maybe it's another chimera."

Lina rolled her eyes. "The chances of encountering a chimera that looks exactly like Zelgadis, minus the bad hairdo, is slim. Plus, even if that was the case, doesn't explain why it's so kill-happy with Zel."

"Something must have happened at the lab," Amelia replied as she let the healing spell subside. "I would suggest going there now to fight the evil that caused this, but Mister Zelgadis should rest for now. That was a nasty wound."

Zelgadis grimaced. He did not want to be reminded of how he had foolishly injured himself.

Lina nodded. "Go sleep in Gourry's room. It's not likely it'll attack twice in one night, but having an extra pair of eyes to watch your back isn't a bad idea. Amelia come into my room ..."

"But before that," Gourry commented. "There's another thing we need to take care of first."

"What's that?" Amelia asked.

Suddenly, a pair of heavy boots raced down the hall. "What the hell are you people doing to my inn?"

"Someone needs to pay the innkeeper for the destroyed room so he doesn't kick us out." Gourry said sagely.

Lina groaned as her coin purse cried out in pain.

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I need to give thanks to both of my beta readers Ichiban_victory and DQBunny and a a bonus for the wait. Here's an omake of an alternative version of that gift scene that was made by DQBunny. I hope you guys enjoy it:

Zelgadiss lifted the lid of Lina's gift. His jaw dropped as his face turned as red as the apples in the bowl on the table. He slammed the lid back down.

"What is it, Zelgadiss-san?" Amelia asked innocently.

"I'm. Going. To. Hurt. You." Zelgadiss seethed.

Gourry looked at Lina, then Zelgadiss, then at Lina, then his eyes widened. "Oh! You gave him the magical ..." His words were cut off as Lina shoved a whole potato in his mouth.

"Just something to help you now that you're human again," Lina said cheekily, giving him a wink.

"Here." Zelgadiss shoved the box at her. "I'm sure you and Gourry will get far more use out them than I will."

"But, but, but," Lina stammered.

"Isn't that what your potion is for, Lina?" Gourry asked as he managed to chew through the potato.

Lina's fist somehow found its way into Gourry's stomach with enough force that he went flying across the room into the wall. "No, you keep them," Lina ground out.

"What are you talking about?" Amelia asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Absolutely nothing." Zelgadiss grabbed the box and shoved it in his cloak just as Amelia reached for it. "Why don't I open your gift now, Amelia?"


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The chimera weaved through the trees. It stopped once it found a stream to drink and rest. As it bent for a mouthful of water the pain returned, and the chimera hissed until the stinging ache subsided. Trails of blood ran down its arm. Those people had injured it. What was that? A fireball? The creature recalled knowing that spell before, but the memory was as fleeting as the breeze that blew through the clearing. It ran its fingers over the wound and poked them into the hole. The creature rubbed the blood between two fingers. It was annoying. It use to know how to be rid of wounds and pain.

A memory lingered. There was a teacher. Healing was his specialty. He had taught the creature many things. Words automatically formed in the chimera's mouth. A healing spell formed in the creature's hands and flowed into into the wound. The pain subsided. The chimera relaxed and lingered in the warm memory. Now it remembered. When it awoke in the cellar, it knew it had to kill the traitor. The creature wasn't sure why it desired to do so.

Now the reason was clear. The traitor, Zelgadis, had stolen the life of someone precious. The chimera bent and drank a mouthful of water. The cold liquid ran down its throat, and it felt good. A rustle caused the chimera to whirl around in time to see a man a few feet away, holding a bow and arrow. The man screamed and ran off.

_Stupid man._ The chimera thought as it lie on the grass. It needed to rest before it would strike again.

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Lina stabbed the thin ball of yolk of her fried egg. She was grumpy. It had cost an arm and a leg to pay the innkeeper for the destroyed room and so called 'physiological damages' done to the innkeeper's cat thanks to the explosions. "What a load of bull," Lina muttered. The infamous cat who had a nervous breakdown sat on the windowsill cleaning its front paws and fur. She chewed her eggs violently.

Normally, she wouldn't have bothered to pay so much money, but the innkeeper wasn't buying the, "We got attacked by a possessed chimera," story, and she was too tired at the time to care. She had thrown a pouch of gold coins at the innkeeper so she and Amelia could crawl back to bed.

Lina stole a sausage from Gourry's plate just as Zelgadis and Amelia entered the room. "How are you feeling, Zel?"

Zelgadis rotated his shoulders. "Better, thanks to Amelia."

"Good, so any ideas what the hell attacked you last night?"

Zelgadis pulled up a chair. "There's no doubt in my mind that thing was my old body."

"But, why did it look so different?" Amelia asked as she recalled the abnormally long hair and claws.

Zelgadis shrugged. "No clue, but it must be somehow due to the spirit that's controlling it."

"Which leads to the question of how your chimera body got possessed," Lina finished.

"I thought you guys put up protection wards against that kind of stuff at the old lab?" Gourry said as he sliced his ham.

"We did," Amelia said with a frown. "And it seemed odd that the spirit was only interested in attacking Mister Zelgadis."

"Maybe it's an old enemy," Gourry replied. "We do have a habit of making those, and there's a long list of dead ones."

Lina tapped her fork on her plate. "Possible, but it would seem a huge coincidence to run into one here in the town of nowhere. What do you think, Zel?"

Zelgadis poured himself a cup of coffee. "The chances are minimal, however, I'm not eliminating that possibility. It did have a strong desire to get revenge on me for some reason." He sipped his tea. "And before you ask, no, I didn't recognize that spirit. Believe me, I would have already told you if I did."

Lina sighed. "That's what I figured. Damn, why did we have to run into trouble just when we were relaxing?" She stuffed her mouth with bacon and gulped it down with her coffee. "We'll have to head to the lab as soon as everyone is done eating."

"Right!" Amelia agreed. "The best place to look for clues to fight whatever evil has taken over Mister Zelgadis's body would be there."

"Not to mention," Zelgadis added, "we'll have a better understanding of what may have caused all this. But before that," Zelgadis turned his head to Gourry. "Do you mind having a sparing session with me later?"

Gourry nodded. "Sure. It's been awhile. It doesn't hurt to keep our skills sharp."

Zelgadis lower his gaze back to his tea. He refused to repeat his fear in front of the girls. The fear of being stabbed carelessly while in a fight like last night. The sparring session will refresh the his sword skills he had before his transformation into a chimera. He concentrated on the thought as he ignored the twitch of worry that hammered at him like a woodpecker.

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Amelia traced her fingers along the burnt marks on the latch door leading to the cellar. Their suspicions had been confirmed. Someone destroyed the protection wards and sneaked into the lab.

"Do you think it was a sorcerer?" Gourry asked.

Lina clasped her chin. "That seems to be the case, although how these wards were destroyed is disturbing."

Amelia nodded. "A normal sorcerer would have just tried to deactivate them, but these are burned. It's like they were set on fire. Whoever did it had a lot of power."

Zelgadis knelt and lifted the latch. "Then we know whoever did it is probably the main suspect of getting my old body possessed."

"But, it doesn't explain how they knew your body was here," Amelia added. "This place was top secret, and you yourself only discovered it a few months ago."

The shaman nodded. "That's what bothers me."

Lina climbed down the steps, tucking her hair back behind her ears. "Well, we're not getting any clues standing here. Let's return to the scene of the crime."

Lina scanned the area, as the group entered the lower chamber. She took in the scene before her and tried to picture what had taken place. "Your body is gone, but it doesn't seem the culprit left any footsteps-"

"Miss Lina!" Amelia gasped suddenly. "Look, the jar! It's been destroyed."

Zelgadis rushed to the spot Amelia pointed to. He growled at the broken pieces of pottery. "So much for giving the jar to Pokota." _At least I still have the notes. That will have to do._

"Okay, I don't get it," Gourry replied. "Who would destroy the jar? I'm no sorcerer, but wouldn't that be an important item for research at least?"

Lina nodded, cursing at herself for not thinking of better ways to guard the jar. "I know a lot of sorcerers that would rather lose their hand than let that be destroyed."

"Maybe it wasn't a sorcerer," Amelia replied. "Maybe someone heard about the jar and decided it was too dangerous to keep around."

"Possible, but that doesn't explain why they took Zel's body, or how they got passed the wards," Lina replied as she moved next to Zelgadis to examined the jar pieces. "And how did they find out about the jar in the first place? It wasn't exactly public information." Lina snarled, pulling at her hair. "Arrg! This whole thing makes my head hurt!"

"Perhaps I can shed some light on your mystery.""

The group whirled around. Yet, no one was astounded to see a calm Xellos leaning against the bookshelf. Zelgadis narrowed his eyes. "I should have known you would pop up sooner or later."

Xellos clapped. "My, my, so this is your human body? Well, I must congratulate you." He grasped his staff and tapped it as he stepped forward. "Although, I can't understand why you would willing give up all that extra power in your chimera body for a simple human one." Xellos shrugged. "But I suppose that's an aspect of human nature I can never understand."

"Cut the philosophy, Xellos." Lina folded her arms and then moved forward until she stood nose to nose with the mazoku. "What did you do, Xellos?"

Xellos folded his arms. "Let's see, should I tell you the whole story, or just part of it? Hmm…decisions, decisions."

"No time for jokes, Xellos." She yanked his shirt collar. "So, start moving those lips, or Amelia will be singing love songs for the next hour."

Amelia grinned evilly.

"This is kind of twisted," Gourry commented.

Xellos sweated as Amelia hummed a bit to warm up her voice and wiggled free. "All right, all right!" His stomach lurched at the thought of the songs the princess of love and justice would know. "There's no need to be uncivilized."

"Just tell us," Zelgadis snapped.

Xellos cleared his throat. He snapped his fingers to summon himself a cup of tea. "Well, I had originally come here to destroy that Hellmaster jar you found."

"How could you," Amelia protested. "We could have used it ..."

"I could have taken and destroyed the jar the minute you four found it," Xellos quickly injected. "But I deemed it easier to wait until Mister Zelgadis was finished with it. Consider it my payment to you for finishing off that mutated piece of the Dark Lord kept in the last Hellmaster jar."

"How generous of you," Lina remarked sourly.

The mazoku priest sipped his tea. "And if you keep interrupting me, I won't be able to finish my story."

Amelia wanted to debate further, but Zelgadis clasped her shoulder and shook his head. He was angry as well, but they needed to learn what had happened to his old body.

"As I saying," Xellos continued. "I had waited until you four had used the jar to move Mister Zelgadis's soul into his new body. After that, I entered and destroyed the jar, but an unpredicted outcome occurred." He added sugar to his tea. "It would appear another soul had been stored in that jar."

"We know," Lina replied. "We were going to deal with it when we came back, but I'm guessing you beat us to it?"

Xellos shook his head. "No, I did nothing to it, but the spirit had decided to make itself at home in Mister Zelgadis's old chimera body."

"Who's the spirit?" Gourry asked.

"No clue," Xellos replied. "It did however appear to have a personal grudge against you, Mister Zelgadis."

"That's old information," said Lina as she took a seat in a chair. "And you just let the spirit walk off in Zel's old body?"

Xellos' tea cup vanished. "Destroying what was contained in the jar was not part of my orders. Besides, it hardly seemed dangerous."

"You mean to you," Zelgadis growled back. "So, let me see if I understand this. You let loose some unknown spirit that wants to kill me, and possesses my old body?"

"That would be the correct," Xellos said with a curt nod.

"And you didn't warn us of this earlier because … ?"

"I was late for an appointment. I only came to inform you now because of our past history."

"Of course," Lina moaned. "And I'm guessing you're not sticking around to give us a hand."

Xellos grinned. "Afraid not. It's not part of my orders, but I am curious to see how you four handle it."

"So, we're your entertainment now?" Lina snapped, pondering if it was possible to break Xellos's neck.

Xellos' reply was a silent grin.

Zelgadis glared and turned to Amelia "Hey Amelia, how about some of those songs?"

Amelia threw a fist in the air. "Sure thing! Girls who are in love ..."

"On second thought," Xellos said, backing away with sweat dripping from his forehead. "I just remembered an errand I have to run. Have fun killing the murderous monster." With a sharp pop, the priest disappeared.

Lina groaned as she buried her face into her hands. "Terrific." She looked to the shaman who was tapping his chin. "Zel, do you have idea who or what could have been kept in that jar?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "For all I know it could have been an unwilling victim in one of Rezo's experiments."

"That doesn't explain why it's after you," said Amelia.

Gourry stared up at the ceiling. "Hey, what if the spirit wants revenge against Rezo, but since he isn't here anymore it has to go after Zelgadis?"

"That's possible," Zelgadis slowly added. "But even if that is the case, we still don't know how to destroy it."

Lina nodded. "You said that strong magic or magical items can hurt you, right?"

"Right, but finding magic that strong is hard to find. If we still had the Sword of Light this would be a lot easier."

"Why don't we look around the lab here?" Gourry suggested. "Maybe Rezo stored something we could use here."

"Not likely since Zel has searched this place from top to bottom." Lina climbed to her feet. "But it wouldn't hurt to double check this place. Who knows, we might find something useful."

"That would be a stroke of luck," Zelgadis commented. "And we could use a little of that."

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The group searched the entire lab, only to find nothing more than Rezo's notes on old remedies for blindness and poor eyesight, and some plans for future experiments. When they returned to town, the group split into two. Lina and Amelia went into town to ask the locals for information. There was a chance one of the townsfolk had seen the chimera, and if they did, they might have noticed something useful. The probability was not high, but they had nothing else to go on.

In the meantime, Zelgadis and Gourry went to the wide yard behind the inn to spar. The swords clanged as they dueled. Gourry had decided to use the old sword. He was persistent in it becoming a proper weapon. Bits of rust flew as he blocked Zelgadis's sword, but it surprisingly held up well.

Zelgadis found he wasn't as fast as he was in his old chimera body. He feet felt as heavy as lead as he leaped and jumped out of Gourry's path. That didn't infuriate him as much as how he would catch himself starting to block Gourry's sword with his non-stone skin. It was a dangerous habit. At the end of the sparring session, Zelgadis was dripping with sweat and sat on the grass in exhaustion. _I need to strengthen my muscles. _He accepted the wet towel offered to him by Gourry. "Thanks," he muttered.

The swordsman sheathed his weapon and took a seat next to him on the damp grass. "Ten times."

Zelgadis froze. Gourry continued. "That's how many times I caught you almost using your skin as a shield like you use to."

Zelgadis ran his hand through his hair. So, Gourry had noticed. "I'm trying to break the habit."

"That's good, but when you're in the middle of a fight your muscle memory takes over and there's a good chance you'll fall back to your habit and then ..."

"Get myself injured or worse." Zelgadis had not wanted to admit the grim truth. The truth was, if Amelia hadn't been there when the chimera attacked, he'd probably be dead now.

Gourry patted his shoulder and offered a smile. "You're a good swordsman, Zel, but you need to update your style. You're too used to relying on your stone skin, which you don't have anymore. It's a dangerous habit for a lone traveler."

Zelgadis's eyes narrowed. "You're saying I should quit traveling?"

Gourry shook his head. "If you travel in a group you have someone to watch your back, but you'll be in trouble if you're alone. You could travel with Lina and me while you worked on changing your sword style. I'll help you."

Zelgadis sighed. He appreciated the offer, but his pride winced at the notion of having to be protected like a helpless maiden. They've always watched each other backs before, but now he would require extra protection. It made him feel useless.

"Course," Gourry continued. "Your other option would be to just stay in one place until you've mastered your new style." Gourry gulped down the water from his canteen. "I'm not trying to tell you what to do, Zel, but I had to tell you the truth."

Zelgadis nodded. Deep down, he had known he would need to retrain himself on his swordsmanship. He didn't want to admit to himself aloud that he wouldn't be able to travel alone while he did it. The mere thought of some low-life bandit finding him while he traveled and managing to stab him because of his old habit made his blood boil. "I appreciate the offer, Gourry, but I'm going to have to think about it."

The swordsman was ready to respond, but was interrupted by Lina's yell. "Hey guys!" the sorceress waved as she and Amelia approached them.

Zelgadis climbed to his feet. "Were you able to find out anything?"

"Not much," said Amelia. "Some of the townsfolk did think they saw something last night, but the creature moved too fast to get a clear look at it."

"However," Lina quickly added. "We ran into a man who said he saw a weird animal this morning while hunting in the woods." She folded her arms. "And his description matches our possessed friend."

"Where did he see it?" asked Zelgadis.

"Near a stream," Amelia replied. "But he said he would be willing to take us where he saw it. He sounded rather desperate for someone to take care of it."

"Can you blame him?" said Gourry, wiping his face off with the towel. "I wouldn't want that thing running around my town…um no offense, Zel."

Zelgadis waved his hand, not bothering to pay the comment any mind. "So, we might be able to find where it's hiding?"

"Yes, but what do we do once we're there?" asked Amelia, frowning. "We don't have any strong magical weapons at the moment."

Lina nodded. "And that thing could cause a lot of damage if we take a few months to track one down. What do you think, Zel? You're the expert on this thing."

Zelgadis cupped his chin. "As much as I don't want to admit it, my chimera body was strong, but not indestructable. I was vulnerable to high-level magic."

"What about Zel's vine spell?" Gourry asked. "Wouldn't that have an effect?"

"It would," Zelgadis replied. "I can certainly attack mazoku with it. However, the spell doesn't last very long. It would be easier if we had strong magic spells to attack it."

Lina sighed. "So, our best plan is to keep throwing spells and using Zel's Astral Vine at it."

"Wait," Gourry replied. "That spirit is just possessing Zel's old body, right? So, why not have Amelia use one of her white magic spells to exercise it from the chimera body?"

"You mean 'exorcise'," Zelgadis corrected. "But that isn't a bad idea."

"It could work," Lina muttered. _And I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier._ "What do you think, Amelia?"

"It's worth a try," Amelia replied. "And with the power of justice on our side, I'm certain we can free Mister Zelgadis's chimera body."

"You know I don't really want it back, right?" Zelgadis replied sourly.

"You have a knack for ruining dramatic moments, Zel."

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"How much further is it?" Lina asked as she ducked under another branch. They had been walking in the woods for over an hour. Bad enough she got mud on her cape and new boots, but her feet were becoming sore from climbing over the rocks and dirt.

The hunter pointed ahead. "The monster was a little over this hill." He turned and tapped on his beard. "Ya sure you kids want to find this thing? I've seen mother bears more friendly."

"We have to!" Amelia declared. "In the name of justice."

"I don't know much about justice," the hunter replied. "But I know a critter that's ready to ripe ya head off. Don't say I didn't warn ya."

Zelgadis grabbed a boulder for support as they climbed the hill. He heard Gourry make a comment to Lina, but he tuned out the conversation. He had been mentally debating on what to do once this was over. Zelgadis could travel with Lina and Gourry as he trained, but he couldn't help but feel he would be a third wheel. Plus, his pride cringed at the idea of depending on others for protection. Then there was plan B, rooting himself in one place.

That seemed bizarre. He'd been a nomad all of his life. The longest he ever lived in a single place was for a few months. Granted, just because he stayed in one place while he trained, it didn't mean he had to stay there for the rest of his life. Yet, where would he go? He had no home he could return to like Lina or Amelia.

_Except,_ Zelgadis thought, _Amelia did say I could stay in Seyrune. _ He dug his feet into the loose dirt for traction and climbed up. It was not the first time Seyrune entered his mind. He instantly thought of Amelia's invitation when Gourry suggested he stay in one place for awhile. It had always felt like a place he could rest his feet when he became weary of traveling. _Maybe staying there is the best option, and Amelia would be there. I wonder if she could suggest someone I could spar with in Seyrune?_

"Hurry up, Zel!" Gourry called. "You're falling behind."

The shaman shook his head. "Right, sorry."

At the top of the hill, the hunter stop. His hands shook slightly as he grasped his bow. "This is as far as I'm willing to take ya. If you head straight ya'll be at the stream where I saw the monster."

"Got it," Lina replied. "Be careful on your way back."

"Same to you, missy." The hunter turned to make his way back down the hill. "But I'm telling ya, that's not an ordinary animal."

"No kidding," Gourry muttered.

"We should be quiet from here on out," Zelgadis stated. "We don't want it to hear us coming."

Lina nodded. "Amelia, we'll fight the chimera and try to keep it in one place while you get your spell ready."

"If we can keep it in one place," Gourry remarked, reaching for his sword. "That thing moves fast."

"We still have to try," said Amelia. "Just be careful."

Zelgadis made an opening through the bush and gestured for the rest to follow. They silently marched forward. The only sounds that were uttered were the tweeting of birds and the chirping of a cricket. Zelgadis carefully scanned the area for any sign of his old body.

He suddenly heard the soft trickle of running water. Recalling the hunter's description, Zelgadis turned and gave the sign to halt. He moved first and ducked behind a large oak tree and peeked around it.

There it was, sleeping next to the stream. Zelgadis felt like he was facing a panther as he watched the chimera's body rise up and down with each breath. The silence was vital now. In his old body, Zelgadis could hear the smallest step even while sleeping.

He waved, and the three three joined him behind the tree.

"It's asleep," Lina whispered with glee. "This was a nice stroke of luck."

"Give me a minute," Amelia replied. "I'll have a spell ready to exorcise the spirit."

Gourry sniffled. "Uh … Lina. I have a prob … blem."

"Not now Gourry. This is kind of vital."

"B … but I'm g-going to s-neeze."

Everyone instantly paled.

"Just hold it!" Zelgadis demanded.

"I … I can't."

"Count backwards or hold your breath or something."

"T … that's for … hiccups!"

"Miss Lina," Amelia cried quietly in terror.

Gourry's head moved back. "Ah-"

Zelgadis jumped and pinched Gourry's nose. "HOLD. IT. IN!"

Gourry froze. It was an eternity until Gourry's shoulders relaxed. "It's gone, thanks Zel."

"You jellyfish brain!" Lina snapped, scratching her nose. "T … that was t … too ... _ACHOO_!"

The chimera bolted. Its eyes instantly landed upon the group.

"Nice going, Lina," Zelgadis replied with a glare.

"Uh, sorry."

The chimera snarled wildly and threw a fireball. The group rolled and dodged out of its path. Lina tumbled on the ground, chanting under her breath. Once she was facing the chimera's back, she sat up and threw it. "Elmekia Lance!"

The chimera raised its hand. "Holy Resist!" it shouted.

A flash of light exploded as the spell collided with the shield.

"_It can cast shields now?"_ Lina thought bitterly.

The chimera rested its gaze on Lina. "You'll regret that."

The voice made Lina jumped. It sounded more human now. Did it have more control over itself?

The chimera charged. Gourry jumped in, blocking the chimera's claws with his rusty sword. "You're not touching Lina!"

The chimera smirked. It was the first human-like expression the group had seen on the creature. It laughed as it gripped Gourry's sword. It pulled forward and swung it hard backwards. Gourry was thrown and slammed into Lina.

"Ow!" Lina cried from under him. "Watch it, Gourry!"

The chimera grinned as it approached them.

"Now, Amelia!" Zelgadis cried.

"Megiddo Flare!" Amelia aimed and shot the spell. The chimera howled as it hit. The area was engulfed in a bright light. As it died, Amelia and Zelgadis choked as they stared at the still much alive chimera. "That hurt!" it hissed.

"It didn't work!" Amelia gasped. "But why ..."

The chimera leaped. Its claws grew as it headed directly for Amelia.

"Dug Haut!" Zelgadis cried.

Giant stone spears sprung from the ground and circled Amelia, protecting her in a barricade. The chimera jumped back in shock.

"What are you doing?" Zelgadis called as he lifted his hand from the ground. "Aren't I the one you're after?"

The chimera's eyes narrowed. "Quite right." It charged towards the shaman. Zelgadis finished casting. "Astral Vine!" Zelgadis blocked it's claws with his sword. The chimera gripped the blade. Drips of blood appeared from its fingers.

_It's working!_ Zelgadis thought. He tried to pull his sword free to strike again. However, the chimera kept its grip. Zelgadis growled. It was almost taunting him with how much stronger his old body was compared to an ordinary human. Suddenly, the chimera surged its right arm forward.

"Zel! Watch out!" Lina gasped.

There was no time to move as it grabbed onto Zel's throat.

Zelgadis gasped for air as the creature's grip tightened. He was forced to dropped his sword. The chimera dangled him in the air like a toy. It laughed. "At last! I shall have vengeance!"

Zelgadis coughed. "W-what vengeance?"

The chimera glared and its face closer to the shaman. "You killed a person I loved! You will pay!"

Lina's jaw dropped. Her memory suddenly went into overdrive, suddenly recalling where she heard that voice before._ It couldn't be?_ "Eris, is that you?"

The chimera tilted her head at Lina. It paused, as if processing the information. "Eris? Yes. YES! That is my name!"


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Eris?" Amelia exclaimed. "You're the soul that was in the jar?"

"I don't remember any jar." Eris tighten her grip on Zelgadis's throat, making him gasp for air. "All that I can recall is that I died before I can extract my revenge on the traitor, Zelgadis." She draw a claw down his cheek, drawing blood as he tried to flinch away. Zelgadis winced as a thin trail of blood broke free. "My memory is foggy, but you murdered someone I loved! You shall pay!"

Gourry screamed a battle cry as he charged and leaped. With both of his hands clutching the hilt of the sword, he sliced at Eris's arm. It made no cut. But, the sudden force and surprise broke Eris's grip on Zelgadis's throat.

He collapsed and tumbled backwards coughing madly. Gourry pointed the tip of his rusted sword at Eris's chest. "You okay, Zel?"

"Yes, thanks, Gourry," As he stared in amazement at the old sword. _I'm surprise that old sword hasn't snapped in half yet._

"You're not escaping that easily," Eris cried, her eyes filled with rage. "Fire Ball!"

"Mister Gourry, look out!"

The girls jumped forward as Amelia began chanting a barrier. Zelgadis raised his hand to cast his own barrier. Neither proved necessary. The ball of fire flew too fast. Gourry held his sword ready to repel it. The fire ball hit the rusted sword.

Everyone, even Eris, stared befuddled. The sword held back the fire ball. Truth be told, the ball of fire was shrinking, as if the sword was drinking the life out of the flames.

The ball of fire vanished, and the blade rattled and violently shook. There were a series of clanks and rattles. The rusted coating of the sword broke off, freeing a glimmering blade from underneath. Lina stared in awe. _Don't tell me that rusted piece of trash WAS a magical sword?_

Gourry flicked the sword back and forth, examining the clean blade. "I wasn't expecting that."

Eris cursed. "It doesn't matter. You'll die here." She cast another fire ball. Gourry rushed forward and batted the ball of flame as if it was an ordinary toy ball. He continued to charge at Eris. In defense, she raised her arm to block the blade, and the blade sliced her forearm.

To her horror, she hissed in pain and stumbled backwards. She turned her arm and stared wide eyed. There was a large cut with blood trailing down her arm. She clutched it to her chest. "I'll be back! Just you wait! Dark Mist!"

The thick mist engulfed the entire area. Zelgadis quickly cast a wind spell to blow it aside, but it proved too late as the mist cleared and there was no trace of Eris. Zelgadis massaged his throat as he stepped forward. "That was a stroke of luck."

Gourry grinned. "And you guys said this sword was trash."

"Yeah, yeah," Lina muttered, refusing to take her eyes off the sword. "Brag later, but right now I want to know what the heck is this thing?"

"Miss Lina, I think we should get out of here first."

Zelgadis replied with a curt nod in agreement. "Let's go to the cabin. It will be nightfall by the time we get back to town and we need the time to figure out what our next move is."

"Fine," Lina replied, still refusing to take her eyes off the sword. There seemed something familiar about it. It would bug her until she memory kicked in.

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"Is there anything to eat in here, Zel?" Gourry asked as he picked up another jar off the shelf.

Zelgadis folded his arms from his seat in the chair. "Don't you think we have more pressing matters to discuss?"

"But I think better on a full stomach."

"In that case, you must always be starving," Zelgadis remarked, stretching out on the floor. "First of all, I want to know why Amelia's spell didn't work."

Amelia nodded. "I made sure not to hold back, so I don't understand why Eris didn't leave Mister Zelgadis's body."

"Of course it didn't work." The group jumped. Xellos grinned in his usual cocky manner by the window. "I'm rather shock you thought it would."

Zelgadis sighed. "What are you talking about?"

Xellos shook a finger. "Technically, she is not possessing Mister Zelgadis's old body. True 'possession' is when a spirit is taking over a body that always contains a soul."

"Except, Mister Zelgadis's chimera body didn't have a soul in it."

Xellos nodded. "Exactly. So, Miss Eris merely took the body for herself and made it into her own in the same manner that Zelgadis did." He perched against the windowsill. "In other words, using a spell to exorcise Miss Eris would have no more an effect than it would on, say, Miss Lina. It would be the same as trying to ripe a soul out of its original body."

Lina blinked and slapped her forehead. She could feel a headache coming on. "Wow, I can't believe we missed that."

"In our defense, " Amelia added, "we were still thinking of it as Mister Zelgadis's body. So, that probably distracted us."

Gourry raised a hand. "I get all that, but why did Zel's chimera body changed so much when Eris took over? Nothing happened when Zel took his human body."

"I believe it's the anger Miss Eris has," Xellos added with a grin. "From what I heard, she spent a few years in that jar while craving revenge." He tapped his fingers against the tip of his staff and raised his head up to the ceiling. "An angry spirit can be quite powerful when it takes on a new body."

"Okay, fine, we're idiots," Lina replied. "But how the hell did Eris's soul end up in that jar?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if Eris volunteered," said Zelgadis as he stood up and walked to the shelf. He knew he had placed a teapot and a box of tea in the cabin from when he'd been exploring the cabin months before. He was in desperate need for a cup of tea."She was willing to do anything for Rezo, although I never thought it was to this extent."

"She probably thought it would ensure her being reunited with Rezo in the case they both died."

"That's so romantic," Amelia said with a dreamy expression. "In a weird, warped way. Although, why didn't she get the Hellmaster jar that contained Rezo?"

"She probably didn't know were to find it," Lina said. "Or, maybe Rezo didn't tell her that the jar that would contain his soul was finished." She closed her eyes, rubbing at her temples. "Remember, that jar with Eris's soul was the first one. For all we know, the jar Rezo's soul went into could have been number twenty-five. So, she could have thought Rezo was still experimenting with it."

"But why is she only after Zel?" Gourry asked. "We were there too, Lina"

Zelgadis found the teapot and the box of tea leaves from behind a large text on the biology of trolls. "Her memory is probably scrambled. Remember how bad Nama's memory was?"

Lina nodded and shuddered a bit. "So, what do we know?" She counted on her fingers. "Eris was the soul in the jar. Her memory is bad, and she wants to kill Zel and anyone that tries to stop her from doing so."

"And that Mister Gourry's sword seemed to be able to cut her" Amelia added.

"I was going to comment on that," Xellos remarked, eyeing the sword with a smirk that made Gourry hold it closer to his chest. "That is an intriguing sword you found Mister Gourry."

The swordsman grinned with pride. "I can spot a good sword when I see it." He held up his new weapon and admired it as if it were a diamond. "But hey, if it can cut through Zel's stone skin, I wonder if it can cut through anything."

His words rattled through Lina's brain. _Cut through anything?_ "That's it!" Lina bolted upward and nearly tripped as she rushed to the sword. "Now I remember! Gourry, let me see that sword."

"Sure, but I'm not selling it to you Lina."

Lina studied the blade closely. "I read about this sword. This is the Blast Sword."

Zelgadis dropped the box of tea. "The Blast Sword?" He stared at the sword intently. "Wait, I think you're right."

"Um…what is the Blast Sword?" Amelia asked.

"I read about it when I was researching magic swords," Lina explained. "It's suppose to absorb magic which lets it become sharper and cut through anything." She grinned evilly, rubbing her hands together. "Including into the astral plane." She turned to Xellos with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. "Mind if we use you for a test subject, Xellos?"

"Er, no thank you," Xellos replied, sweat dripping down his cheek. "I believe no proof will be needed. However, correct me if I'm wrong, but I had heard the Blast Sword had become so sharp it would slice through any hilt it was attached to."

Lina stared at the blade, folding her arms over her chest. "Yeah, I read that too."

"I bet Rezo found a way to dull the blade," Zelgadis interjected. "He was probably planning to use it in one of his experiments, but he left it in his lab for safekeeping." He rummaged for some teacups. "It wouldn't surprise me if he purposely covered it in rust so an intruder wouldn't bother to steal it."

"Yeah, the only person who would take a rusted sword is Gourry," Lina added.

"Which proved to be a good call," Gourry retorted.

"You're not going to let that fact go for a long time aren't you?"

"So, we have a plan!" Amelia exclaimed. "We'll power the sword with a few spells and Mister Gourry can use it to defeat Miss Eris!"

"But what spell do we use?" Gourry asked. "A fireball was just able to make a small cut. We would need a strong spell, right? Like a Dragon Slave?"

Lina grasped her chin. "I wouldn't want to risk that without some testing first. We don't know how quick the sword can absorb stronger spells." She handed the sword back to Gourry. "If I cast a Dragon Slave, we might get blown up as we wait for the sword to absorb it."

"What about a Ra Tilt?" Amelia suggested. "It's as strong as a Dragon Slave, but it won't harm us if it takes a few minutes for it to be absorb by the sword."

Lina pondered. "That could work, although the sword is more effective against demons and mazoku. Eris is still human, even if she's gone insane."

"We don't need the Ra Tilt to kill her," Zelgadis replied. "We just need the spell to sharpen Gourry's sword enough so blade can kill her."

Lina nodded. "That's true, and if you hit her with the sword and your Astral Vine at the same time while I cast some strong spells, it might be enough to kill Eris once and for all."

"It's worth a try," Amelia said.

"Although, it's weird to be fighting Zel's old body," Gourry replied. "It's a good thing you're a friend. We would have had a hard time fighting you if you became our enemy."

"Yeah, no kidding," Lina added. "I remember when you were our enemy at first. It would have been a tough fight if it had stayed that way."

Zelgadis said nothing as he headed to the door carrying the teapot.

"Mister Zelgadis, where are you going?"

He kept his back to them. "To the well, I'm getting some water." He shut the door, slumped against the cabin wall and rubbed his neck. He had already cast a healing spell on himself, yet the image of himself dangling made it throb. _I bet this was how Lina felt when Zumma tried to choke her. _ Still, he couldn't believe he let himself get cornered again. It was becoming an obnoxious habit.

He sighed and headed to the well. He dumped the pail into the water and the droplets of water splash onto his fingers. He blocked out the memories of the fight and concentrated on pulling on the rope.

"Mister Zelgadis?"

He jumped and nearly lost his hold on the rope. He breathed in and turned. "Did you need something Amelia? I'll have the water in a second."

Amelia chewed her bottom lip. "Actually, I was worried about you. You became awfully quiet."

Zelgadis grabbed the side of the bucket and pulled it to the top of the brick of the well wall. "It's nothing. It's quite childish actually." He hopped Amelia would just drop the subject. However, he knew the chances of Amelia doing that weren't likely. She could be quite stubborn in that aspect.

To prove his point, she continued. "I know it must be very weird to having to fight against your own body."

Zelgadis sighed. "It's not that. It's bizarre, but that's not what is bothering me."

"Then what is it?"

Zelgadis sat on the well edge. "In the past two nights I have carelessly almost gotten myself killed." He ran his hand through his soft hair. "I keep forgetting how fragile a human is compared to a chimera." He rubbed his throat. "When a mazoku choked me before, it didn't hurt nearly as much as it did today."

Amelia raised an eyebrow. "So, what are you saying?"

"I'm missing my old body. Doesn't that sound stupid?" He scoffed at himself. "Of course, I would never want to actually go back to being a chimera, but I can't help but think I wouldn't be so useless in my old body."

"It's not stupid." Amelia patted his shoulder. "It's natural for you to miss it. You've lived as a chimera for a few years now. I think there's always going to be parts of it that you miss. It's was a part of your life." She moved forward and leaned in. "And you're not useless. You're just out of practice fighting while fully human."

"Gourry said the same thing." He picked up the pail of water. "The whole situation is just frustrating. I hate it. I knew it would be like this while I searched for a cure, but knowing it and actually going it through it are two different things."

The pair began to walk back to the cabin. "Let's just focus on defeating Eris," Amelia suggested. "Once this is over, you'll have plenty of time to improve your skills."

Zelgadis nodded. "Thanks to listening to my whining."

"You're not whining," Amelia corrected. "You're just…" She thought for a moment. "Expressing thoughts out loud."

"I'm pretty sure that's the same thing," Zelgadis added. "But that sounds less annoying."

Amelia touched his arm. "It will work out. You'll see."

Zelgadis nodded as he picked up the bucket. He really needed that cup of tea.

0808080808080808080808

Before the sun fully set, Gourry and Lina had gone out and caught some fish to cook for dinner while Amelia had located some herbs in the cabin to add seasoning to the meal.

Gourry watched their dinner roast on the spit in the fire and drummed his fingers in thought. "Guys, how do we plan on locating Eroes?"

"It's Eris, Gourry," Lina replied, pouring herself another cup of tea. "But you have a point. We were lucky to get a tip from that hunter, but I doubt finding Eris again will be easy."

"Especially considering she seems to be more mentally stable now," Zelagadis added. "She didn't seem as 'wild' as when she first attacked me."

"And this forest is so huge. We could spend weeks looking for her," Amelia added. "That is, if she doesn't sneak up on us and attack us."

"We did have surprise as our advantage this morning," Zelgadis replied, twitching. "Until someone got hay fever all of a sudden."

"Hey, blame Gourry! He started it!"

"I'm not sure sneezing works like that, Miss Lina."

Lina sighed. "In any case, if we could find a way to lure Eris out, we could try to give another sneak attack and give us the upper hand."

Zelgadis scoffed. "Too bad she still isn't thinking like a wild animal. We could have lured her out with food."

Lina laughed and added some sugar. "We could, but Eris would probably figure out it's a trap real quick. She might be starving enough to take the food, but she would have her guard up for any attack we make. Only an idiot wouldn't think free food isn't a trap."

Gourry snapped his fingers. "Hey! What if we got Rezo!"

Lina blinked and paused in her stirring. "What?"

"She was crazy about him, right? I bet if we got Rezo hanging out in the open, she'd come running and not even think it was a trick."

Lina gripped her slipper, ready to whack him hard. "Half of your brain must have melted! Hello, Rezo is dead! Unless, he happened to put his soul into a jar again, we're not going to get Rezo out here."

"What if it was a fake Rezo?" Amelia thought out loud. "Like the copy that was made a few years back?"

"Oh, no," Lina pointed her slipper at her. "We're not trying that."

"Zel could do it," Gourry suggested.

Zelgadis spat out his tea. "W-what? I'm not Rezo!"

"But, you do look like him, except for the hairstyle."

"How is it you can't remember names, but you can remember stupid things like that?" Lina asked, narrowing her eyes at Gourry.

Gourry shrugged as Lina shook her head and turned her gaze to Zelgadis.

"Still ..." Lina began to circle Zelgadis, her eyes calculating. "Yeah ... he does look a lot like Rezo."

"Exactly," Gourry added, nodding. He didn't get why the concept had been so hard to understand.

"I never thought I say this, but that's brilliant Gourry," Lina replied, grinning slyly. "We'll just have to-"

"Forget it!" Zelgadis snarled and pulled his shoulder away. "There is no way I'm doing this!"

"But, Mister Zelgadis," Amelia replied, in a calm tone. "This would lure out Eris."

"Be serious, do you honestly think she would believe I'm Rezo! Need I remind you that Eris wants to kill me because the real Rezo is dead? She won't fall for this."

"Yes, but she can only recall pieces of her memory." Lina waved a finger. "I don't think she remembers that it's Rezo that's dead. She just said you killed someone she loved, but she didn't say it was Rezo."

Amelia stroked her chin. "You're right, and if that's the case, she really might believe Mister Zelgadis is the real Red Priest."

Lina nodded. "Right, and with her incomplete memory, we should be able to pull off a fake Rezo easily." Lina winked. "And, hey, besides, with the right makeup and costume, Zel could look like anybody. Even Naga," Lina replied.

"Who?" Amelia asked.

"Oh, never mind." Lina moved to the fire to double check the meat hadn't burned. "Anyway, relax Zel. This will work."

"Are you even listening?" Zelgadis asked, slamming a fist onto the table. "I'm not doing this!"

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Zelgadis muttered darkly.

"Hold still, Mister Zelgadis," Amelia replied. She had her tongue sticking out as she applied oil to his hair. "I need to get your bangs to stay out of your face."

"Just make sure not to get any on the robes," Lina replied. "We need to make everything count." Without turning around, Lina yelled over her shoulder. "How is the boar meat coming along, Gourry?"

Gourry wiped the sweat off his brow. "Just about ready to set up the fire, then we can roast the boar."

"Good, but don't start the fire until we're ready."

"She's not going to fall for this," Zelgadis grumbled as Amelia cleaned the oil off his neck. "Besides, the chances of her coming exactly to this spot are unlikely."

"And that's what the meat is for!" Lina snapped. "We'll roast the meat, then Amelia and I will create a breeze so the smell goes through the forest. Eris will pick up the scent and come to investigate. Then volia!" She patted Zelgadis's shoulder. "She'll see you, assume you're Rezo, and we got her."

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. It might have sound solid, but the plan was going to fail at some point. He could feel it in his gut.

"I'm finished, Mister Zelgadis."

He rose, desperately trying not to trip on the long robes. _How did Rezo walk in these things?_

"Now, we just need the final touch!" Amelia cheered, reaching for the fake staff they had the blacksmith made. "Here you go, Mister Zelgadis."

He held the staff and then closely examined himself. The robe was twice his size, the staff held far too many rings and his hair felt stiff from the barrel-worth of oil. He twitched. This was almost as bad as dressing up as a woman. "I look like a cheap knockoff."

"Never mind," Lina replied. "You look great, Zel. Not exactly like Rezo, but good enough for what we could do at the last minute."

Zelgadis sighed. "I suppose I should go and sit on the log in the clearing."

"Yeah, it won't take long to start the fire." Lina frowned. "But remember to shut your eyes and pretend you're blind when Eris shows up."

Amelia nodded. "That's right. Eris probably won't believe you're Rezo if you're not blind."

"I know that!" Zelgadis snapped, even though it only just occurred to him to make sure his eyes were shut. "Let's just get this over with!" Zelgadis cursed and grumbled as he made his way to the log and sat. Shortly after, he began to smell the roasting boar as a light breeze blew through.

Zelgadis continued to sit, passing the time by picturing how he would burn this costume when it was all over. As the sun passed in the sky, it grew warmer. Zelgadis tugged at his collar. He was boiling. It baffled him that Rezo could willing wear these robes without appearing be bothered. He recalled a memory from his childhood. It was the hottest day of the summer and Zelgadis remembered desperately finding the nearest lake or pond to soak himself in. Yet, the whole time Rezo wore the robes. He may not have been a man of miracles that everyone believed him to be, but the fact the man could wear thick long robes on a burning summer day was a marvel in itself.

_Then again,_ Zelgadis thought, _He probably found a way to cheat and cooled himself without taking off his robes. Yes, that's more believable._

His stomach growled. The smell of the roasting boar was becoming painful. He found himself in an internal debate if Lina would yell at him for asking for a piece to eat. That was when he sensed it. Something bloodthirsty staring at him deep in the woods.

He stiffened. Bushes rustled. He could sense movement from behind him. The footsteps were quiet. The crunching of a twig was the only signal to how close Eris was. Zelgadis held his breath as he could feel hot breath on the back of his neck. Shutting his eyes, Zelgadis steadily turned around, praying the sudden movement wouldn't alarm Eris.

There was a gasp. "Lord…Rezo?"

It drove Zelgadis mad not to see Eris's expression to foretell if she believed it. He judged by the tone of her voice that his legs would not be torn off if he spoke. "It's me, Eris." He spoke in a deep voice, doing his best to echo Rezo.

Stone fingers caressed his cheek. "My, Lord Rezo." Yes! It was working. Arms slipped around his neck. "I've missed you, my love." Zelgadis shivered. Why was he happy this was working again? It was awkward enough for Eris to be holding him tenderly, but doing it in his old body, made the experience just wrong. _I know what my next goal is_, Zelgadis thought. _To locate a spell to block this memory!_ _I'll bet Lina is enjoying this!_

Nearby, Lina cackled. "Oh man, this is priceless!"

"Miss Lina, this isn't funny!" Amelia scolded. "This is serious."

"I agree with Amelia," added Gourry.

"See, even Mister Gourry sees how serious this is."

"Actually, I just know from personal experience how weird it feels to have another guy hit on you." He shivered. It would take years to block his memories of Volun.

Amelia paused and she stared puzzled. "Mister Gourry, Eris is a girl."

"But she's in a guy's body, so doesn't that actually make her a guy? It's been bugging me for a while."

Amelia grasped her chin in thought. "Well, no, but, well-"

"Stop, we're not discussing that topic," Lina snapped. "Gourry, get your sword ready, and Amelia you start chanting. We're not sure how long the distraction will last."

Amelia nodded. She silently chanted the full incantation and the ball of blue light grew in her hands. Quietly, Amelia said "Ra Tilt!" at the sword.

Gourry gripped it tightly as the spell collided with the blade. The blade rattle but instantly absorbed the spell. Gourry inspected the sword. "Looks like it worked to me."

"Good," Lina replied. "We just got to sneak up on Eris and attack. Let's just hope Zel can last a little longer."

_Hurry up, Lina!_ Zelgadis thought. Eris laying her head in his lap was crossing the border from strange to potential nightmare. His was thankful for the thick robes, otherwise Eris's wired hair would be poking his skin.

"Lord Rezo? Why are you so tense?"

Zelgadis jumped and composed himself. "I am…" Think, think. "Just happy to see you." Oh, that was smooth. What cheap romance story hasn't used that line.

Miraculously, Eris laughed without question the reply. "Oh, Lord Rezo." She lifted her head, leaning her hands on his kneecaps. "Please, give me a kiss."

Zelgadis choked. "I…err…that's not a good idea right now."

Eris pouted, which would have been odd to see even if she was still in her real body. "Why?"

His brain went frazzled. "Because I have bad breath." It was a weak excuse, but if she believed the cheesy romance line, why not.

"I don't care." Her face was inches from his nose. "Please, your kisses have all I've been dreaming about since you left."

Zelgadis twitched. Just how involved were his great grandfather and Eris? Why wouldn't it surprise him if Rezo had also been a womanizer. Then again, that would explain how a priest had children in the first place … On second thought, perhaps it was better if that bit of information remained vague.

"Lord Rezo," Eris's passionate voice broke his thoughts.

Zelgadis pulled his head back. His hand reached back to place it on the log to support his weight and he moved his body backward. However, his hand only met air. With a loud yelp, Zelgadis toppled. His back landed on the grass with his legs hanging over the log.

"My Lord? Are you all right."

He winced in pain. Then, Zelgadis made his vital mistake, for a brief moment, his eyes opened. Immediately, his shut them again. It was too late. In the small glimpse he got, Eris was hovering above him. There was a long silence.

Zelgadis remained frozen, until Eris yanked his upper body forehead by grabbing onto his robe. She grasped his arms tightly, breaking off the flow of blood in his arms. "Open your eyes or I'll rip your arms off!" Her voice was desperate, wanting to deny that what she witness was a lie.

Cursing in his head, Zelgadis opened his eyes.

Eris stared, her eyes wide with fear. "You can see? But how you're-" Her fear changed to anger. "Blind! My Lord Rezo is blind!" Her grip tighten. "You're not my Lord Rezo! No! I remember, he's dead!"

Just when Zelgadis was certain he would be searching for a new pair of arms, he spotted a red flash.

"Flare Arrow!" Lina's voice cried out. It slammed against Eris's back. Crying in more shock than pain, Eris released her grip and Zelgadis rolled out of her path. He stood and tore the robes from his body, relieved from shedding the added weight.

Eris howled with rage. "How dare you defile my love! I'll tear you to pieces!" She pounced. Zelgadis used his staff to block her claws. The rings chimed madly as they swayed back and forth. Eris reached for his throat. Zelgadis smirked. _Not this time!_

"Digger Volt!" He jabbed the bolt of lightening into her stomach. Sparks flew. Eris screamed and stumbled.

Zelgadis readied himself for a second attack, but he was beaten to it. "Dark Mist!" yelled Amelia. The black mist engulfed the area, blocking both his view and Eris's. A small hand seized his wrist and dragged him away.

"Hurry, Mister Zelgadis!"

Zelgadis didn't argue as he let Amelia lead the path out.

Meanwhile, Eris slashed at the mist. How dare it block her view. She strained her ears for the slightest noise, even it was merely a take of breath. Feet moved behind her. Eris whirled around, casting wind to drive away the mist. It proved too late. Lina bolted forward as the mist cleared.

"Dill Brando!"

The ground erupted under Eris. Rocks and dirt filled her vision as she was blasted into the air. She landed flat on her back, momentarily stunned. Her mind cleared as she heard Lina finished chanting. "Freeze Arrow!"

Eris bolted, just before the arrow of ice hit. She lunged forward at Lina. "You're mine!"

"Astral Vine!" Zelgadis shielded Lina. He smirked and muttered, "My turn." Zelgadis slashed Eris's arms. Drips of blood flew off from the sword as he swung it back. Eris yelped in pain and grasped her arm.

"Why?" she muttered darkly. "Why won't you just die, Zelgadis?"

Zelgadis's eyes narrowed and he held his sword high. "You know what's different between you and me, Eris?" He gripped his hilt. "You cling to the past, while I look forward."

"Ow!" Lina replied, wincing in mental pain. "Zel, that was beyond cheesy. Just, ow."

"… Shut up Lina."

Eris dropped her arms. "It doesn't matter. I'll kill you right now!" She raced forward at top speed.

Zelgadis smirked, almost gleeful. "We'll see about that! Shadow Snap!" He threw a dagger at her shadow. Her legs froze as the spell paralyzed her.

"You honestly think this will stop me?" Eris replied, baffled as she stared back at her shadow.

"No, not me. Go, Gourry!"

The swordsman dove out of the bushes where he'd been hiding. He yelled as he held his sword in the air and stabbed Eris's back. It cut through her stone skin and the tip poked through her stomach.

Eris screamed in agony. She desperately reached behind her to gripped at the sword to pull it out, but Gourry held his ground. Zelgadis stepped forward.

Solemnly, he gripped his sword. "I am sorry, Eris." He raised it, the spell glowing brightly on it's blade.

"No!" Eris screamed.

"Astral Vine!" Zelgadis's sword pierced her heart.

Eris screamed until there was no life in her voice. As she died, her head slumped along with her limbs. The men pulled out their swords. Eris dropped to the ground like a ragdoll. Her chest barely moved as she turned her head up to the sky.

The group circled around her and silently stared at her. Eris chuckled softly while spitting out some blood. "So, in the end, I still lose."

Zelgadis kneeled. "Do you have any last requests?"

She scoffed. "None, that I would want to ask of you." She hissed in pain. "At least I'll be with Lord Rezo at last." Her eyes closed as the life left her body. The group went silent.

Amelia sat next to Zelgadis and held his hand. "Are you alright?"

He nodded. "Yes, and now it's truly over."

"Still doesn't excuse the cheesy line, Zel."

"Lina, just be quiet."


	8. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, but here is the final chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Chapter 7

Gourry patted the last shovel full of soil onto the mound. It was a simple unmarked grave, in which Gourry had found a large rock to substitute as the grave stone. It was a weird sensation for Zelgadis, to be burying his own body. Then again, it was nothing compared to having his own body flirt and hit on him. That would probably be a good source of nightmares for the next couple of months.

A wind came with a light chill as the grave was completed. The four gave a moment of silence.

After Amelia gave a quiet prayer, she spoke "Shouldn't we write Eris's name on the stone?"

"Why?" asked Lina. "It wasn't her body we've buried, it was Zel's. She was just borrowing it."

"I just hope she found some peace." Amelia felt sorry for Eris. She may have perform acts against justice and tried to kill Zelgadis, but she had also been a woman in pain who had lost the man she loved. The comforting thought was to assume she and Rezo's souls were reunited.

"Her soul should be free as long as she doesn't decide to possess someone else," Zelgadis commented.

"Or get trapped in any more jars," Gourry added. He paused. "That was the last jar right?"

"Who knows," Zelgadis replied with a shrug. "There could be more, that's why we looked for that one in the first place." He clasped his chin in thought. "Although, I have a feeling if there are more, Xellos is going to get to them first."

Lina nodded. "He probably doesn't want to risk a repeat of what happened with Rezo and Shabringo's souls." She brushed her bangs from her eyes. "Granted, I can't see how or even who would want to try to put a piece of the dark lord into a jar, but there are a lot of nuts out there." Lina turned and began to lead the gang down the hill. "Let's head back to town. We deserve a celebration!"

"But we just had a celebration," Zelgadis remarked.

"And this is a victory dinner over defeating Eris, what's your point?"

"I wouldn't argue Mister Zelgadis," Amelia added with a sigh. "She's probably going to make us have one while we want to or not."

Gourry nodded. "Besides, I am getting hungry. Handling new swords does bring on an appetite."

Zelgadis shook his head as they followed Lina. As they strolled through the forest, his thoughts began to drift back to what his final decision would be for the upcoming months.

Lina and Gourry had ordered five servings of the turkey special. No words could be uttered as the pair performed their daily ritual of chewing and swallowing like starving wolves. As Lina took a break to gulp down her mug of water, Amelia broke in with her question.

"So, what are you planning to do now, Miss Lina?" The princess dipped her spoon into her soup.

"Before you had said you were searching for a sword for Mister Gourry."

"And you've clearly accomplished that," Zelgadis added, cutting into his thick steak with his knife.

Lina paused, not only to ponder the question, but to also whack Gourry's hand away from her potatoes. "Well, I figured we should go research the blast blade more, since there's a lot we don't know about it."

Gourry shrugged. "What's there to know? We know it can absorb spells and it has a pointy end to stab things. What else is there?"

Lina rolled her eyes. "I rather do some double checking to make sure there's nothing dangerous about you using that sword." She sprinkled pepper on her ham. "Some magical swords are known to have life threatening side effects and I want to be certain that this sword has none."

Gourry chewed his mouthful of turkey. "Sure, but I don't think it's risky to use the blast blade if you ask me."

"But we need to me sure," Lina argued in frustration as she waved her fork at him.

Zelgadis smirked. "Oh? You're that concerned over Gourry's health?"

Amelia beamed. "That's just like Miss Lina to be worried about Mister Gourry!"

The sorceress blushed. "What are you talking about? I just want to be sure I won't be in danger when I use it!" She madly waved her arms around. "Gourry can use it all he wants! He's the test subject!"

"Sure, Lina," Zelgadis replied, grinning evilly.

Lina glared. "In any case, I figured we should also make a detour and stop by Tashfoina and visit Pokota."

Amelia blinked. She had recalled the suggestion to bring the jar to Pokota for him to study as a lead for him to regain a human body. However, that hope was crushed as soon as she had found the shattered pieces of the jar on the lab floor. She had been debating if they should tell Pokota about the discovery at all or not. She didn't believe it was fair to raise his hopes only to learn the jar was gone.

"Is that such a good idea, Miss Lina? We don't have the jar anymore."

Lina grinned. "You're right." She reached into her astral pocket and retrieved the notes she had written. "But I still have the notes and designs for the jar."

Amelia slapped her cheek. "I can't believe I forgot about those. Mister Pokota can use the information from those to make his own jar."

Zelgadis folded his arms on the table. "If he's willing. Considering what he has personally been through, he maybe be reluctant to use that information."

Lina nodded. "Still, I thought we at least owe it to him. Pokota can decide if he wants to keep them or not."

"Just make sure Xellos doesn't get them," Gourry replied, shoveling more carrots into his mouth. "He seems driven to get rid everything related to those jars."

"You don't have to tell me that." Lina tucked the papers back into her astral pocket in her cape.

"But what about you guys? Want to come along?"

Amelia shook her head. "I would love to see Mister Pokota, but I am over due to get home."

She laid her arms behind her head. "There are some meetings with the Seyrune nobles coming up that I'm sure Daddy will be wanting my help with."

Gourry gave a nod and turned to the shaman. "What about you, Zel?"

Zegladis hand froze before his slice of steak could enter his mouth.

"I'll bet Zel will be coming with us," said Lina. "He's probably dying to find out what Pokota's been studying lately. Right, Zel?"

Zelgadis smiled as he set down his fork and leaned his chin on his hands. He had made his decision hours ago, but it was going to be different admitting it aloud. "Actually, I've decided to go to Seyrune for the time being."

The girls stared curiously, while Gourry smiled back, as if he'd been expecting to be hearing this answer.

"Really, Mister Zelgadis?"

The shaman nodded. "I can't deny that I was lucky with Eris. My fighting skills as a human are rusty. I have been getting better, but as Gourry pointed out to me I need to stay in one spot and focus on getting stronger." He turned to the princess. "That is, as long as your offer still stands."

"Of course it does!" Amelia cheered. "Daddy will be thrilled to have you around!" She suddenly had a light bulb moment. "I can even ask Daddy to give you fighting lesson with your bare hands! He's a wonderful teacher."

Zelgadis grimaced at the mental images of Prince Phil forcing him to do push ups, crush boulders with his fists and heaven knows what else. "…I'll keep that in mind." As motivation to get stronger on my own.

"That does make sense," Lina replied, leaning back in her chair. "Although, I'm not sure I could handle staying in one city so long."

Gourry tilted his head. "Speaking of which, isn't it about time we go visit your home Lina?"

Lina almost lost her balance in her chair. "What? Why are you bringing that up?"

"Well, your dad's been wanting to meet me, especially after that last letter you wrote home."

Lina seized his shirt collar. "How the hell do you know about that?"

Gourry choked. "Your sister wrote to me about it."

"Why the hell is she writing to you?"

Amelia and Zelgadis tucked their faces behind their hands and exchanged amused glances.

**Seyrune- One Year Later**

She's late, Zelgadis thought. She was suppose to meet me here ten minutes ago. The waitress came by and served his tea and Amelia's slice of cake. Zelgadis never cared much for sweets, but he knew this was Amelia's favorite teashop because of the cakes. He debated ordering Amelia's tea for her. Although, it would be pointless if she was being held up by the council and it got cold by the time she got there.

He sipped his drink, taking in the pleasant aroma. It was a rare for Amelia to be late, but Zelgadis was not surprised. The Seyrune council was holding a long meeting over whether they should raise taxes on the nobles to help out the poorer people in the city. It was an issue Amelia and Phil wanted to clearly express their opinions on, with Phil's being the loudest.

"And that's if he and Amelia don't throw in a justice speech," Zelgadis muttered under his breath. He reached into his pocket for the small item he had purchased earlier and placed it on top of Amelia's cake. It would be a good test for Amelia's observation skills to see if she noticed it or not.

He sipped his tea again and let his mind wander. A lot had happened in the past year. His journes as a chimera to restore his humanity still felt like a dream. He ran his hand through his soft hair. A part of his nomad side was perplexed that he stayed a whole year in Seyrune. He had originally planned to stay for a few months, at least until he felt his sword skills were strong enough for him to travel by himself.

He had to admit, Amelia and even Phil had been a huge help in that regard. They both provided tips and advice on how to strengthen his muscles. Plus, the practice sparring with Amelia and the royal guard were also useful for that.

Theoretically, he should have left ages ago. Yet, he found he kept saying "I'll stay another week." Then he would have found something intriguing to research at the library. The letters he received from Pokota regarding his own research spurred Zelgadis on. Then, he found himself helping out Amelia and Phil with the issues of strengthening their guard. Then another problem would arise, and he felt obligated to assist, and then another research topic would pop up, and so on and so on. Before Zelgadis realized it, an entire year had passed.

This was Lina's favorite topic to tease him about the last time she and Gourry came to visit. He blushed at the memory. Although, he vowed to get revenge the next time they meet up, especially if the contents in Gourry's last letter were accurate. He stirred from his thoughts as he heard running feet from behind him.

He turned to a panting Amelia. She was still in her gown, but she had managed to change from her high heels to her boots. He had to admit she looked quite adorable.

"Sorry, I'm late," Amelia panted as she collapsed in her chair. "The meeting went on far longer than I thought it would."

"I believed it would," Zelgadis replied, sliding the cake towards her. "Here, I ordered your favorite. I figured you would need some sugar after that meeting."

Amelia grinned. "Thank you. It was long, but it was worth it."

"So, the council agreed?"

Amelia ate the first bite. "We still have to work out the details, but everyone seemed convinced it was a good idea. How has your morning been?"

He grinned. "Not as eventful as yours, although I did receive a letter from Gourry." He handed the opened letter over. "And he had some intriguing news."

Amelia eagerly read the letter. Her eyes widened. "He's going to ask Miss Lina to marry him?" Her eyes instantly sparkled. "Oh, that's so romantic!"

"Apparently, his plan is to take Lina to the coast where this famous lobster is served and propose there."

Amelia leaned on her hands, caught up in her own daydream. "I wish I was there to see Miss Lina's expression." She closed her eyes and took another bite. "I swear, besides a wedding, there's nothing more romantic than a proposal."

Zelgadis smirked to himself. "You think so?"

"Of course!" Amelia began to eat the pink icing rose. "There's nothing-" A tiny glint on her plate caught her attention. Her thoughts scattered as she stared at the object. Hesitantly, she picked it up. "Mister Zelgadis, what is this?"

He grinned. "Don't you know a diamond ring when you see one?"

Amelia blushed. "Yes, but why is there one on my plate?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Zelgadis attempted to hide his blush behind his hands. "We've grown a lot closer this past year, and I've already gotten Phil's permission." He coughed. "However, if you don't want to marry me I would under-"

"YES!" Amelia leaped across the table. Zelgadis yelped as Amelia slammed into him and knocked both of them to the floor. The other customers and servers stopped what they were doing to stare at the excited princess. "YES! YES!" Amelia cried, hugging Zelgadis around his neck. "Yes, I will marry you!"

"Amelia, people are staring!" Zelgadis scolded.

It was too late. There was an instant cheer and an old man from across the room gave a fierce whistle. "Way to go, lad!"

Zelgadis' entire face turned red, but he sighed as Amelia refused to let go. He had a great future to look forward to, and he wouldn't trade that for anything.

**THE END**


End file.
